heyint.n.
/heɪ/, U.S. /heɪ/ 1.
a. A call to attract attention; also, an exclamation expressing exultation, incitement, surprise, etc.; sometimes used in the burden of a song with no definite meaning; sometimes as an interrogative (= eh int. 3).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attention > attracting attention > call for attention [interjection]
loOE
lookOE
heya1225
halec1300
notac1392
what hoc1405
yoa1475
behold1535
hist1599
nota benea1721
see1863
psst1875
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or exclamation > [interjection] > other specific cries or exclamations
oeOE
heya1225
ouc1300
we13..
hac1320
how1377
how now?c1380
vaha1382
ha a!c1386
ha ha!c1386
hoa1400
ohoa1400
yowc1440
yoa1475
heh1475
hey ho?c1475
huffc1485
wemaya1500
whewa1500
wow1513
huffa?1520
gup?1528
ist1540
whow1542
hougha1556
whoo1570
good-now1578
ooh1602
phew1604
highday1606
huh1608
whoo-whoop1611
sessaa1616
tara1672
hegh1723
hip1735
waugha1766
whoofa1766
jee1786
goody1796
yaw1797
hech1808
whoo-ee1811
whizz1812
yah1812
soh1815
sirs1816
how1817
quep1822
soho1825
ow1834
ouch1838
pfui1838
suz1844
shoo1845
yoop1847
upsadaisy1862
houp-la1870
hooch1871
nu1892
ouff1898
upsy1903
oo-er1909
ooh-wee1910
eina1913
oops1921
whoopsie1923
whoops-a-daisy1925
hot-cha-cha1929
upsadaisy1929
walla1929
hotcha1931
hi-de-ho1936
po po po1936
ho-de-ho1941
oh, oh1944
oopsy1956
chingas1984
bambi2007
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or shout (loudness) > cry or shout [interjection] > specific shout
heya1225
hoy1393
harrowa1500
hollo1589
wahahowec1604
halloo1671
hulloo?1706
holloa1769
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or shout (loudness) > cry or shout [interjection] > specific call or hail
heya1225
halec1300
hillaa1400
what hoc1405
hoc1430
oyeza1450
heh1475
hi?c1475
oy1488
whata1556
holla1598
sola1598
hillo1603
hallow1674
woo-hoo1697
hip1735
yo-ho1748
high1760
yo-heave-ho1790
holla ho!1796
whoo-ee1811
hello1826
tit1827
hullo1857
ahoy1885
yoo-hoo1924
hi-de-hi1941
a1225 Leg. Kath. 579 Hei! hwuch wis read of se icudd keiser!
c1305 St. Kath. 137 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 93 Hei traitours, quaþ þemperour, beo ȝe icome herto?
14.. Christm. Carol 3 (Mätz.) Hey, hey, hey, hey, The borrys hed is armyd gay.
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1445 Þise oþer halowed hyghe! ful hyȝe, and hay! hay! cryed.
a1529 J. Skelton Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng in Certayne Bks. (?1545) 168 Hey, dogge, hay, Haue these hogges away!
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 254 Hey Mountaine, hey . View more context for this quotation
1712 W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 42 Our Musick play'd, Hey Boys up go we! and all manner of noisy paltry Tunes.
c1745 in Ritson Scot. Songs (1794) II. 84 (Jam.) Hey, Johny Coup, are ye waking yet?
1794 R. B. Sheridan Duenna (new ed.) ii. 41 Well, and you were astonished at her beauty, hey?
1801 M. Edgeworth Prussian Vase in Moral Tales III. 47 Hey, Solomon, my friend?
1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations I. xv. 247 You are looking round for Estella? Hey?
b. hey for —— : an utterance of applause or exultant appreciation of some person or thing (cf. hurrah for!), or of some place which one resolves to reach.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > applause > [interjection] > specific shout of applause
vivat1663
huzza1682
hey for1689
ancora1712
hurrah1716
bravo1761
hip1811
viva1842
rah1871
olé1914
brava1943
kaiso1947
yay1963
1689 M. Prior Epist. to F. Shephard Then hey for praise and panegyric.
1837 E. Bulwer-Lytton Ernest Maltravers I. i. x. 101 We must make a dash at the spoons and forks, and then hey for the money.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies ii. 83 Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away.
1881 J. Grant Cameronians I. iii. 42 Breakfast at nine, and then—hey for the covers!
c. as n. A cry of ‘hey!’
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or exclamation > [noun] > other specific cries or exclamations
O?c1225
heyc1400
hoc1405
whoopc1450
oha1535
ooh1602
whowb1602
phew1613
hogmanay1692
ah1712
yo-hope1724
whew1751
whoo1763
yah1812
yo-heave-ho1813
yoicks1817
yo-he-ho1827
yo1830
boo1833
yoick1854
hot-cha-cha1932
ooh-la-la1952
ooh-ah1957
eina1971
eish2005
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or shout (loudness) > [noun] > call > call or calling to attract attention
hailingc1275
heyc1400
hoc1405
sohoa1572
holla1593
hoy1652
halloo1707
hail1811
hillo1823
yo-hoing1840
halloa1898
yoo-hoo1924
yoohooing1954
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) l. 1158 Þe hindeȝ were halden in, with hay & war.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid iii. viii. 36 And halsing gan the land with hey and haill.
1599 T. M. Micro-cynicon ii. sig. B4v With nailed shooes, and whipstaffe in his hand, Who with a hey and ree the beasts command.
1790 A. Wilson Poems 238 Our hechs, an' heys are by.
2. In combination with various interjections or other words. (See also 3 and heyday n.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > merriment > exclamations of merriment [interjection]
hey?1520
heydaya1529
nonny-nonny1533
?1520 J. Rastell Nature .iiii. Element sig. B.ijv Synge fryska Ioly with hey trolyloly For I se well it is but a foly For to haue a sad mynd.
a1529 J. Skelton Agaynste Comely Coystrowne 30 Rumbyl downe, tumbyll downe, hey go, now, now!
?1535 M. Coverdale Goostly Psalmes Introd. Epist. sig. iiv They shulde be better occupied, then with hey nony nony, hey troly loly, & soch lyke fantasies.
1553 Respublica iii. vi, Cantent Hey noney nony houghe for money.
c1560 T. Preston Cambyses in W. C. Hazlitt Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Eng. Plays (1874) IV. 236 They can play a new dance called Hey-diddle-diddle.
1562 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Æneid ix. A a ij Here is our enemy lo, heylagh, loud clamours than they throw.
1564 Guid & Godly Ball. 204 Hay trix, tryme go trix, vnder the grene wod tre.
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing ii. iii. 68 Conuerting all your soundes of woe, Into hey nony nony. View more context for this quotation
?1602 Narcissus (MS Bodl. Rawl. poet. 212) (1893) 74 The world, hey dery diddle, goes round without a fiddle.
1606 N. Breton Choice, Chance, & Change sig. C4 The ploughman..putting vp into..the market, with haye Ree, & Who to his horse.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) v. iii. 16 With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Hamlet (1623) iv. v. 166 Hey non nony, nony, hey nony.
a1625 J. Fletcher Humorous Lieut. iv. iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Sss2v/2 That noble mind to melt away, and moulder For a hay-nonny-nonny?
c1650 in J. W. Hales & F. J. Furnivall Bp. Percy's Folio MS: Loose & Humorous Songs (1867) 58 Cupid bidds itt shold bee soe, Because all men were made for her hynonino.
1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew iii. sig. I Then, hay tosse and laugh all night.
1672 Duke of Buckingham Rehearsal v. 53 Hey down, dery down.
1695 W. Congreve Love for Love iv. i. 65 Hey toss! what's the matter now?
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 2. ⁋2 Hey! Hoop! d'ye hear my damn'd obstrep'rous Spouse?
1711 J. Swift Let. to Stella 30 June in Wks. (1768) XII. 183 Hey dazy, will you never have done?
1823 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae x, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 106 Converting sounds of wrath and woe Into hey Ninny! nonny.
1867 J. Ingelow Warblings in Poems iv With a wild sweet cry of pleasure, And a ‘Hey down derry, let's be merry! little girl and boy!’
1886 Overland Monthly May 546/2 Sing hey nonny, Come live in the wood, grief thins the blood, The forest but is bonny Hey nonny! Hey nonny, nonny, nonny, Hey nonny!
1951 N. Coward Devon in B. Day N. Coward: Compl. Lyrics (1998) 52/3 But the chaps that live on Dartmoor Are breezy, bright and gay, Singing Hey ha ha with a fa la la and a hey nonny And whack folly o.
3. In phrases, sometimes treated as words.† a. hey go-bet n. Obsolete the int. hey followed by the phrase go bet (see bet adv.2), which was apparently, among other things, a call in hunting, and the name of a song and dance; used by Nashe as n., ? ‘one to whom “hey go bet” is said’, perhaps a person ready at one's bidding.
ΚΠ
c1385 G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Dido. 1213 The heerde of hertes founden ys anoon With hay goo bet, prik thou, lat goon, lat goon.
a1550 Frere & Boye 300 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. III. 73 Ye hath made me daunce, maugre my hede Amonge the thornes, hey go bette.
1589 ‘Marphoreus’ Martins Months Minde To Rdr. sig. B3 Those whom hee counteth his enemies (the worst better than the best of his hey gobetts).
.... Hunting Song in J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words But when my lips are very well wet, Then I can sing with the, Heigh, go bet!
b. hey-go-mad n. dialect a phrase expressive of boisterous excitement; sometimes used as an adjective.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > excitement > riotous excitement > [phrase]
hey-go-mad1760
1760 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy I. i. 3 Away they go cluttering like hey-go-mad.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Heigh-go-mad, to be highly enraged.
1854 C. Dickens Hard Times ii. vi. 185 Yo was hey-go-mad about her, but an hour sin.
1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield Heigh-go-mad, said of a person who betrays excessively high spirits.
c. hey-pass int. ?Obsolete an exclamation of jugglers commanding an article to move: often joined with repass. Hence as a name for the command, and an appellation of a juggler.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > legerdemain, etc. > formula [interjection]
hey-passa1593
presto1598
hey or high jingo!1670
hiccius doccius1676
hey presto1732
presto changeo1905
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > legerdemain, etc. > [noun] > juggler or conjurer
jugglera1100
tregetour1340
hey-passa1593
prestigiator1595
baffler1606
feat-worker1617
hocus-pocus1624
hocus1647
chirosophist1652
fascinator1677
legerdemain1696
prestidigitator1712
conjurer1727
sleight-of-hand man1757
nimble-fingers1781
sleight-of-hand professor1801
legerdemainist1830
magician1834
illusionist1850
jongleura1851
wizard1859
deceptionist1883
mentalist1906
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > legerdemain, etc. > [noun] > juggler or conjurer > name for exclamation used
hey-passa1593
a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. E2 Do you heare? you, hey, passe, where's your maister?
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 31 Whereof the onely Circes Heypasse and Repasse was that it drewe a thousand ships to Troy, to fetch her backe with a pestilence.
1641 J. Milton Animadversions 26 You wanted but Hey-passe to have made your transition like a mysticall man of Sturbridge.
1727 J. Gay Fables I. lx. 143 Heigh! pass! 'Tis gone.
1830 C. Lamb Let. 22 Jan. (1935) III. 241 Autumn hath foregone its moralities, they are hey-pass re-pass [as] in a show-box.
d. hey presto int. a phrase of command by conjurors and jugglers; hence transferred used to connote an instantaneous or magical transformation, or some surprisingly sudden performance; also n. as a name for the command.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > shortness in time [interjection] > hey presto
hey presto1732
cockalorum1772
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > legerdemain, etc. > formula [interjection]
hey-passa1593
presto1598
hey or high jingo!1670
hiccius doccius1676
hey presto1732
presto changeo1905
1732 H. Fielding Lottery (ed. 2) iii. 32 The Hammer goes down, Hey Presto! be gone, And up comes the Twenty Pound.
1761 D. Garrick Epil. to Hecuba Hey!—Presto!—I'm in Greece a maiden slain—Now!—stranger still!—a maid, in Drury-Lane!
1873 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Wooin' o't II. 55 Like some magician come to lift everyone out of the Slough of Despond, with a sort of ‘Hey Presto!’
1877 C. H. Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 677 Heigh, presto! the thing is done.
1891 A. Lynch Mod. Authors 133 The melodramatic situations, the surprises, hi-prestos, climaxes.
e. hey, Rube! int. U.S. slang a rallying call or a cry for help used by circus people. As n., a fight between circus workers and the general public. (Cf. rube n. and adj.)
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > fighting > [noun] > a fight > between circus people and public
hey, Rube!1882
society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > word or cry > [interjection] > specific watchword or slogan
hep1819
hey, Rube!1882
banzai1893
Sieg Heil1940
mop1945
Jai Hind1948
we shall overcome1948
1882 Times (Chicago) 3 Dec. (Suppl.) 12/4 A canvasman watching a tent is just like a man watching his home. He'll fight in a minute if the outsider cuts the canvas, and if a crowd comes to quarrel he will yell, ‘Hey Rube!’ That's the circus rallying cry, and look out for war when you hear it.
1935 Amer. Mercury XXXV. 229/2 Heyrube: general uprising of spectators.
1939 Sat. Evening Post 25 Mar. 75/2 The expression disappeared forty years ago, along with the old rallying cry, ‘Hey, Rube!’
1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) i. 6 We found ourselves with an old-fashioned hey-rube and obliged to move the show on that night.
1962 E. S. Gardner Case of Blonde Bonanza xv. 182 And ‘Hey Rube’ is a rallying cry for the circus people to unite in a fight against the outsiders?
1973 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 12 Oct. 2/2 There..could be a very interesting hey Rube between incumbent Frances Elford and Ald. Brian Smith.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> see also
also refers to : hayheyn.4
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