Etymology From Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, where Yahoo is the name of a race of brutes.
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Derogatory A rough, coarse, loud or uncouth individual.
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Biology, Cryptozoology, Natural sciences, Zoology A humanoid cryptid said to exist in parts of eastern Australia, and also reported in the Bahamas.
1835, James Holman, Travels, quoted by Malcolm Smith, Bunyips and Bigfoots (Millennium Books, 1996, →ISBN), who notes that the Australian sense almost certainly derives from Gulliver's Travels, despite Holman's report The natives are greatly terrrified by the sight of a person in a mask calling him "devil" or Yah-hoo, which signifies evil spirit.
Etymology Coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. According to the Century Dictionary, "[a] made name, prob[ably] meant to suggest disgust".
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Fiction, Literature, Media, Publishing One of a race of brutes, who look and act similar to men, inhabiting the same land as the civilized Houyhnhnms.
I therefore often begged his Favour to let me go among the Herds of Yahoos in the Neighbourhood, to which he always very graciouſly conſented, being perfectly convinced, that the Hatred I bore thoſe Brutes, would never ſuffer me to be corrupted by them; […]1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), pages 271–272:
I watched as she Googled, Yahooed, Asked, and used a couple of search engines I’d never heard of.2007, Linda O. Johnston, The Fright of the Iguana, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 29:
I searched, Yahooed, Googled and everything else I could.2008, Frederick Thomas, Buddha's Bones, Buddha's Bones, →ISBN, page 46:
2 more examples
We are not super-tech-savvy people because we would have Googled, I suspect, but we Yahooed, and the top 10 sites were pornographic.2008 July 16, David Gratzer, “Statement of David Gratzer, M.D., Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research”, in Getting Better Value in Health Care: Hearing Before the Committee on the Budget House of Representatives; […] (Serial No. 110–37), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 23:
He Googled, Binged, and Yahooed sharks, shark life, shark types, shark history, shark food, and anything else shark-related.2014, Ellen J. Prager, “Behind the Jungle Wall”, in The Shark Whisperer, Minneapolis, Minn.: Scarletta Junior Readers, →ISBN, page 12:
Yahoo
noun
Etymology From the company name Yahoo!; see more on origin there.
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Informal An employee of the Internet company Yahoo!
But having two beaming Chief Yahoos on the cover is an implied seal of approval.1996, Newsweek, volume 127:
Instead of driving down the street to meetings, soon Yahoos need merely stroll the walkways that crisscrossed a bright green lawn.2002, Karen Angel, Inside Yahoo!: reinvention and the road ahead:
1 more example
Some Yahoos got filthy rich, but many more lost it all.2004, Chris Turner, Planet Simpson: how a cartoon masterpiece defined a generation: