hoot
verbEtymology From Middle English houten, huten, hoten, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Old Swedish huta (“to cast out in contempt”), related to Middle High German hiuzen, hūzen (“to call to pursuit”), Swedish hut! (“begone!”, interjection), Dutch hui (“ho, hallo”), Danish huj (“ho, hallo”).
1
To cry out or shout in contempt.
- Matrons and girls shall hoot at thee no more,1711, John Dryden, “Satire IX”, in Dryden’s Juvenal:
2
To make a hoo, the cry of an owl.
- The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders / At our quaint spirits.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- Outside an owl was hooting most dismally in the darkness. The villa was on a by-road, and there was no human sound to link them up with life.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
1 more example
- “Er...Feathered Omen, hoot not,” he continued uneasily, “Son of Tanit, hoot not!”1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 11:
3
To assail with contemptuous cries or shouts; to follow with derisive shouts.
- Mary felt extremely offended when the workers hooted at her.
- And I will be content, that Partridge, and the rest of his Clan, may hoot me for a Cheat and Impostor, if I fail in any single Particular of Moment.1708, Isaac Bickerstaff [Jonathan Swift], Predictions for the Year 1708:
4
To sound the horn of a vehicle.
- When you arrive to pick me up, hoot, and I'll come outside.
- Derived terms
- hoot down, hootingly, hoot it up, pant-hoot, unhooted
- Related terms
- give a hoot, hootenanny, hooter, owl hoot, owl hoot trail