hootn.1
/huːt/, U.S. /hut/ 1.
a. A loud inarticulate exclamation, a shout, outcry.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > cry or shout (loudness) > [noun]
cryc1380
clamoura1382
hallowc1440
shout1487
spraich1513
routa1522
rear1567
outshout1579
shoutcry1582
hollo1598
hoot1600
hulloo?1706
halloo1707
holloa1757
bawl1792
holler1825
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxiii. xix. 487 Anniball made a hout at it [L. exclamaret], and cried alowd: What? shall we sit heere about Casilinum so long?
a1610 J. Healey tr. Epictetus Manuall (1636) 70 But for the whootes, and cryes, and other turbulent motions avoide them utterly.
1859 T. G. Bonney in Mrs. Cole Lady's Tour Monte Rosa App. 395 A marmot..scampered rapidly away among the rocks at the hoot of our guides.
b. A sound produced mechanically by a motor-horn, factory whistle, or the like.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of horn > [noun]
seekc1500
poopa1556
gibbet1590
honking1844
tra-ra1900
hoot1904
honk1905
honk-honk1908
klaxoning1922
beep-beep1929
parp1936
1904 A. B. F. Young Compl. Motorist (ed. 2) xii. 258 You should have a connection from the exhaust pipe led into a small reservoir and thence into the horn, so that on turning a tap a prolonged hoot will be emitted.
1927 Scots Observer 14 May 17/1 An imperative horn hoot made him turn his head.
1963 H. Garner in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 52 A long hoarse hoot of the factory whistle announced the lunch break.
c. A laugh; a cause of laughter, a joke, a very amusing situation. colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > that which causes or is subject of laughter
laughterOE
laughing game1530
laughing matter1549
laugh1689
scream1888
shriek1930
giggle1936
hoot1942
crack-up1961
laugher1973
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §281/4 Something humorous,..hoot.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §408/1 Humorist; amusing person,..hoot.
1969 Punch 17 Dec. 990 All the chaps chuck their clubs in a heap, and the wives have to pick a club and go off with the owner; it's going to be an absolute hoot!
1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iii. 23 Jansy can imitate anybody. So can I... We'd have the whole form in hoots.
1971 Guardian 27 Sept. 10/1 It's a little quaint (‘a bit of a hoot,’ Dews would say) to hear him mention Peter Brook first.
1973 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird xiii. 188 I started talking shop, a hoot for Jacko, if he had heard me.
2. spec. A shout of disapprobation or obloquy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > [noun] > expression of disapproval > by sounds or exclamations
hootinga1225
hissingc1384
fie?1550
acclamation1602
hiss1602
hoot1612
catcall1749
catcallingc1781
scraping1785
sibilation1822
the big bird1825
boo hoo1825
booing1830
Kentish fire1834
boo-hooing1865
boo1884
slow handclap1904
tutting1929
slow handclapping1932
slow clap1937
1612 T. James Life Father Parsons in Iesuits Downefall 53 Hee was hissed out the College with whouts and hobubs.
1660 S. Fisher Rusticus ad Academicos i. 103 For all the then Hout, and the still stout standing of thy Rout of rude ones to the contrary, I still say the same.
1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs I. 138 I heard certain mutterings and hoots among the students.
3. The cry or call of an owl. (Sometimes imitated as to-hoot, too-hoot, to-hoo.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > sound made by
whoop1582
tu-whit tu-whoo1655
woo-hoo1656
hoot1791
tu-whoo1830
hooting1837
tu-whooing1838
owl-hoot1850
1791 ‘P. Pindar’ Lousiad: Canto III 6 To hoot of Owls amid the dusky vales.
1852 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. (1874) 281 The voice of the Brown Owl is a loud monotonous hoot.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies iv. 131 He..listened to the owl's hoot.
4. hoot owl n. the Tawny Owl, Syrnium aluco.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > family Strigidae > genus Strix > strix aluco (tawny owl)
jenny whooper1600
aluco1657
grey owl1673
ivy-owl1674
brown owl1678
tawny owl1766
wood-owl1809
hoot owl1885
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 129 Tawny owl (Syrnium aluco), Hoot owl (Craven).
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words The tawny owl (Syrnium aluco) is called brown owl, hoot owl, and Jenny hoolet.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
hootn.2
/huːt/, U.S. /hut/ colloquial (originally U.S.).
The smallest amount or particle; a whit or atom. Chiefly with negative and in phrases to give (also care, matter) two hoots (or a hoot).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > a small quantity or amount > the smallest amount > a jot
cornc888
grotc888
prickleOE
prickOE
pointc1300
grain1377
hair1377
motec1390
twynt1399
mitec1400
tarec1405
drop1413
ace?1440
tittlea1450
whita1450
jot1526
Jack1530
plack1530
farthingc1540
minima1585
scintil1599
atom1626
scintillation1650
punct1653
doit1660
scintilla1674
rap1792
haet1802
dottle1808
smiggot1823
hooter1839
heartbeat1855
pick1866
filament1868
hoot1878
1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxxviii. 615 I got onto my reaper and banged down every hoot of it before Monday night.
1923 R. D. Paine Comrades Rolling Ocean xii. 214 I am glad of that even if he did tell me that as a supercargo I wasn't worth a hoot in hades.
1925 N. Venner Imperfect Impostor iv I can't see this place gives a hoot whether I'm here or not.
1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 120 I don't care two hoots in hell.
1926 A. P. Herbert She-shanties 36 We did not care a hoot.
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) lxxxi. 429 Not that my maimed will now cared a hoot about the Arab Revolt.
1927 Observer 9 Oct. 13 It doesn't matter two hoots how much Oxford is filmed.
1939 J. Joyce Finnegans Wake 351 I did not care three tanker's hoots..for any feelings.
1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger xix. 214 I don't see that it matters two hoots in hell if you don't function.
1947 O. Sitwell Novels of G. Meredith 4 The human being who is not worth a tinker's cuss,—or, in a more elegant simile, two hoots—does not exist.
1957 A. Grimble Return to Islands iv. 78 Not that they gave a hoot for what I might say.
1963 V. Nabokov Gift iv. 235 He most definitely did not give a hoot for the opinions of specialists.
1966 Listener 27 Oct. 613/1 Winston Churchill was idiosyncratic in that he did not care a hoot about being thought a gentleman.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
hootn.3
/huːt/, U.S. /hut/, New Zealand English /huːt/ New Zealand slang.
Money paid as recompense; (as a generic term) money.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > compensation > [noun]
yield601
angildeOE
maegboteOE
allowancea1325
finea1400
boota1450
reparationa1460
contentation1467
disdomage1502
contention1516
regard1568
contentment1603
atonement-money1611
satisfaction1621
satisfaction money1651
content1689
compensation1804
smart money1817
hoot1820
indemnization1836
compo1941
MCA1973
1820 J. Butler in Barton Earliest N.Z. (1927) iii. 66 He and his people went and robbed Boyle for the (hutu) payment.
1828 W. Horton N.Z. 1/3 He then seized one of our axes..saying that should be the hutu or payment for what he had done.
1830 G. L. Craik New Zealanders x. 242 What he now wanted, he said, was hootoo, or payment.
1834 E. Markham N.Z. Recoll. (MS.) 5 The Cabin boy counted 8 Teeth marks and the Hout or Compensation money was 8 Figs of Tobacco.
1842 N.Z. Jrnl. 61 117/2 Ask them [sc. Maoris] what is the hute or price.
1879 J. Barr Old Identities xxxvii. 333 The land that's waste they'll parcel oot..And sell't to all that's got the hoot.
1917 Chrons. N.Z.E.F. 5 Sept. 28/1 Pig Island N.C.O.'s only go for the extra couple of bob a day..the hoot is all they're chasing.
c1926 ‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 5 He gets his ‘hoot’, forgets his dues.
1938 X. Herbert Capricornia xx. 274 On the construction you could make a pot of hoot in no time.
1953 Landfall 7 250 Put on a quid for me, for a place—I've got the hoot.
1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute Mate 144 Reckon we ought to have something to aim at, like getting a bit of hoot together to buy a little farm or a place to live or something.
1967 K. Giles Death & Mr. Prettyman ii. 57 I got the idea of starting a chain of those places..for blokes without much hoot and wanting a clean bed.
1970 N.Z. Listener 30 Jan. 12/2 ‘Hoot?’ I said. I hadn't heard that word for money in years. I suppose in an isolated cut-off place..slang would ossify.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
hootv.
/huːt/, U.S. /hut/ 1.
a. intransitive. To shout, call out, make an inarticulate vocal noise; to toot with a horn; now, esp., to utter loud sounds of disapproval or obloquy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > disapprove [verb (intransitive)] > express disapproval by sound or exclamation
hoota1225
hissa1425
hem and hawk1588
catcall1735
cluck1821
tut1832
fie-fie1836
boo1855
harrumph1936
tsk-tsk1966
steups1967
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > other vocal sounds > [verb (intransitive)] > whoop or hoot
hoota1225
whoopc1390
whoo1599
to whoop out1704
a1225 [implied in: Juliana 52 Ne make þu me nawt men to huting ant to hokere. (at hooting n. a)].
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 2387 Þei..went after þe werwolf..hotend out wiþ hornes.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 3225 Þanne by-gunne þay to grede & houte.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 251/2 Howtyn, or cryyn, boo.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 251/2 Howtyn, or cryen as shepmenn,..celeumo.
c1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 182 Upon my spere, A gerle I bere, I dare welle swere Lett moderes howte.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 97 He..hearde all the whole citee whoughtyng and shoughtyng..with ioye and solace.
1610 S. Rid Martin Mark-all 35 At this newes the whole fraternity of Vagabonds whooted for ioy.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 244 And still as hee refus'd it, the rabblement howted, and clapp'd their chopt hands. View more context for this quotation
1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 19 Recusants..frequently passed through the Churches in time of Divine Service houting and ho-lo-ing.
1666 A. Wood Life & Times (1892) II. 76 They [sc. undergraduates] houted and hum'd all the way from the Scooles to Xt. Ch.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 131. ¶7 I do not hoot and hollow and make a Noise.
1899 N.E.D. at Hoot Mod. The crowd began to hoot.
b. To call out or shout opprobriously at (†on) or after any one. (With indirect passive.)
ΚΠ
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 15833 Þai huited on him viliker þan he had ben a hund.
1565 T. Stapleton Fortresse of Faith f. 118 What is more houted at, scoffed and scorned in Englande now.
1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. H4 Yonge children howted at her as a strumpet.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. iii. 117 [It] should be hooted at Like an old Tale. View more context for this quotation
1624 J. Gee Foot out of Snare v. 27 All who meet with their modern books, may hoot at them.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxiv. 67 I cannot wear those good things without being whooted at.
1819 W. Irving Rip Van Winkle in Sketch Bk. i. 80 A troop of strange children ran at his heels, hooting after him.
c. To laugh. colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > laugh [verb (intransitive)]
laugheOE
larf1832
hoot1926
yock1938
yock1938
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) cxxiii. 651 At this onslaught I cackled out like a chicken, with the wild laughter of strain... I hooted out again.
1928 S. Vines Humours Unreconciled xv. 201 The first time I came across it, ‘Shakespeare has no bloody relation with Schiller’, I just hooted.
1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 168 The others hoot, they giggle, they are weak from the combination of their own remarks and the action of the plot.
1969 New Yorker 28 June 37/2 She'd mention him tragically, then hoot with laughter.
2.
a. transitive. To assail with shouts or sounds of disapproval, contempt, or derision.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > hold in contempt [verb (transitive)] > express contempt of > vocally
hootc1175
tush1555
to make a tush at (or of)1600
pish1602
pooh-pooh1823
behoot1838
pshaw1848
pooh1858
phoo-phoo1865
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > disapprove of [verb (transitive)] > express disapproval of > by sound or exclamation
hootc1175
to clap out1550
explose?c1550
explode1563
hiss1598
exsibilate1601
to hum up, down1642
out-hiss1647
chuckle1681
catcall1700
scrape1773
groan1799
to get the (big) bird1825
boo1833
fie-fie1836
goose1838
sibilate1864
cluck1916
bird1927
slow handclap1949
tsk-tsk1966
tut1972
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 4875 Whær se icc amm bitwenenn menn Icc hutedd amm. & þutedd.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2034 Ȝiff mann wollde tælenn þatt. & hutenn hire. & þutenn.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. ii. 218 He was nawhere welcome..Ouer al yhowted and yhote trusse.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 53 Fy on hir..Hutit be the halok.
1611 B. Jonson Catiline iii. sig. F1v The Owle of Rome, whom Boyes and Girles will hout ! View more context for this quotation
1728 E. Young Love of Fame ii, in Wks. (1757) I. 90 Tho' hiss'd and whooted by the pointing crowd.
1740 C. Pitt tr. Virgil Æneid II. xii. 603 How will the Latians hoot their Hero's Flight!
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 128 They don't listen to him, but laugh at him, and hoot him.
b. To drive (a person) out, away, or in any direction, (a play) off or from (the stage), by shouts and sounds of disapproval.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (transitive)] > drive away > by various types of noise
hoot1393
hiss1519
hollo away?1602
vociferate1794
trumpet1795
bark1829
1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. iii. 228 He was..Ouer-al houted out and yhote trusse.
a1625 J. Fletcher Rule a Wife (1640) i. 2 I would give the boyes leave to whoote me out o' th parish.
1683 W. Kennett tr. Erasmus Witt against Wisdom 29 [He] could never recover himself but was houted and hissed home again.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 443. ⁋7 There is neither Mirth nor Good-humour in hooting a young Fellow out of Countenance.
1843 T. B. Macaulay Madame D'Arblay in Eclectic Mag. Apr. 454/1 His play had not been hooted from the boards.
1895 19th Cent. Aug. 327 They can tell the public that work which they elect to hoot off the stage is first rate in quality.
3.
a. intransitive. Applied to the cry of some birds, spec. of the owl.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [verb (intransitive)] > cry or call
crowc1000
galec1275
pewa1425
call1486
hoota1500
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [verb (intransitive)] > hoot
hoota1500
whoopa1556
tu-whoo1824
tu-whit1866
tu-whoot1912
owl1941
a1500 Cuckow & Night. 185 Thou shalt be as other that been forsake, And than thou shalt hoten as do I [the Cuckoo].
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. iii. 28 The Bird of Night did sit..vpon the Market place, Howting, and shreeking.
1618 G. Wither Wither's Motto in Wks. (1633) 531 No more..Then doth the Moone [fear] when dogs and birds of night Doe barking stand or whooting at her light.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 153 Even doves..will not whoot, if deprived of these and bird-pepper.
1820 W. Irving Westm. Abbey in Sketch Bk. vii. 27 The wind shall whistle through the broken arches, and the owl hoot from the shattered tower.
b. transitive. To utter or express by hooting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [verb (transitive)] > hoot
hoota1788
a1788 N. Cotton Var. Pieces Verse & Prose (1791) I. 97 Perch'd on Parnassus all night long, He [an owl] hoots a sonnet or a song.
4. Applied to certain sounds mechanically produced, esp. that of a steam siren or ‘hooter’, used as a signal to workmen for beginning or ceasing work, a fog-signal, etc. Also, to emit the sound of a motor-horn (said of the horn, the motor vehicle, or the driver). Also transitive. to hoot her way (of a ship): to make her way (as in a fog) with continuous hooting.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sound of horn > [verb (intransitive)]
poopc1390
hoot1883
honk1895
klaxon1924
parp1968
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > signalling with other sounding instruments > sound signal on instrument [verb (intransitive)] > sound hooter or siren as signal
hoot1883
siren1895
1883 R. L. Stevenson Silverado Squatters 177 A cuckoo-clock..hooted at intervals.
1890 Daily News 29 Sept. 6/6 It was not a dangerous fog, but our ship had to hoot her way for some distance down.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 3 Through the yelling Channel tempest when the siren hoots and roars.
1912 M. Beerbohm in Seven Men (1919) 129 Our car neither slackened nor hooted.
1927 Observer 28 Aug. 10 In the shadiest lanes we were honked and hooted out of the way.
1957 A. Clarke Too Great Vine 10 Badge and holy medal guide Your cars home, hooting through our dirtiest lanes.
1966 J. Betjeman High & Low 65 Who dares to come hooting at me? I only give way to a Jag.
Draft additions 1993
b. transitive. Of the driver of a motor vehicle or (occasionally) transferred of the vehicle itself: to sound (a horn); to transmit or express by making such a sound. Cf. honk v.1 3c.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > driver or operator of a vehicle [verb (transitive)] > sound (a horn)
hoot1948
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [verb (transitive)] > sound (a horn)
hoot1989
1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair x. 112 I shall hoot the initials of your beautiful name on the horn.
1958 I. Murdoch Bell ii. 27 He stopped the car beside the wall, its wheels deep in the grass, and hooted the horn twice.
1976 Economist 23 Oct. 54/3 Hundreds of off-duty policemen have demonstrated in the streets of New York, keeping residents and hospital patients awake by hooting their horns.
1989 Independent 27 Nov. 1/6 Passing cars, many adorned with the national flag or red, white and blue ribbons, hooted their support.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
hootint.
/huːt/, U.S. /hut/, Scottish English /hut//hʌt/. Scottish and northern dialect.
An ejaculation expressing dissatisfaction with, or impatient and somewhat contemptuous dismissal of, a statement or notion: nearly synonymous with tut!, with which also it appears to be combined in the more emphatic hoot toot (hout tout, hut tut).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > exclamations of contempt [interjection] > exclamations of contemptuous rejection
pho1601
phoo1672
poh1679
hoot1681
hoots1824
poof1824
to shove something up your ass1895
nuts1910
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > expressions of disapproval [interjection]
fie1297
avoyc1300
spyc1315
comec1450
tuta1529
oh1533
hum1598
rufty-tufty1606
aroint thee!1608
hoot1681
boo1778
hoots1824
boo hoo1825
now, now1847
aw1852
tch1898
tsk1947
1681 T. Otway Souldiers Fortune i. i. 5 Hout ye Caterpillars, ye Locusts of the Nation.
1762 S. Foote Orators ii. 52 Hut, hut, not spake what should ail me.
?1795 H. Macneill Scotland's Scaith 13 (‘Wha can this new comer be?’) ‘Hoot!’ quo' Tam, ‘there's drouth in thinking—Let's in, Will, and syne we'll see.’
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering II. 33 Hout tout, man—I would never be making a hum-dudgeon about a scart on the pow.
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. Hoot, Hout, Hoots, Howts,..equivalent to E. fy. Hoot-toot, of the same meaning, but stronger, and expressing greater dissatisfaction, contempt, or disbelief.
1879 L. B. Walford Cousins x. 133 ‘Hut, Emily! who said you were a tyrant?’
1883 M. Oliphant Ladies Lindores II. 130 ‘Hoot, mem, we'll just manage fine’.
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Hoot! hoots! howt! hout! hut! huts! an expression of impatience. Sometimes hoot-toot, or otherwise varied.
Derivatives
hoots int. (also houts, huts) [with adverbial -s.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > exclamations of contempt [interjection] > exclamations of contemptuous rejection
pho1601
phoo1672
poh1679
hoot1681
hoots1824
poof1824
to shove something up your ass1895
nuts1910
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > expressions of disapproval [interjection]
fie1297
avoyc1300
spyc1315
comec1450
tuta1529
oh1533
hum1598
rufty-tufty1606
aroint thee!1608
hoot1681
boo1778
hoots1824
boo hoo1825
now, now1847
aw1852
tch1898
tsk1947
1824 J. Mactaggart Sc. Gallovidian Encycl. Howts, huts..as ‘howts—nonsense’; ‘howts—ay’.
1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxix, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Nov. 772 Hoots! You're no serious in sayin' you're gaun to smoke already.
1832 W. Stephenson Coll. Local Poems, Songs, &c. 59 One with feelings cried, ‘Hoots, hoots, Let's roll him up in wool’.
1871 C. Gibbon For Lack of Gold I. v. 84 Hoots, not so bad as that.
1893 [see main sense]. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.11600
n.21878n.31820v.c1175
int.1681