woo
/wuː
/verb (woos, wooing, wooed) [with object]
1Try to gain the love of (a woman), especially with a view to marriage: he wooed her with quotes from Shakespeare...
- There have been reports of dozens of roses, love letters and chocolates wooing the female of the species.
- He would have wooed her, loved her and married her.
- I knew that I would need to tame her, woo her, gain her trust as if she was a gentle doe.
Synonyms
court, pay court to, pursue, chase, chase after, run after
dated romance, seek the hand of, press one's suit with, set one's cap at, make love to
archaic spark
1.1Seek the favour, support, or custom of: pop stars are being wooed by film companies eager to sign them up...
- Afternoon tea, for example, at the legendary Reid's Palace Hotel is just one of a range of charming social customs that woos tourists.
- The move is apparently aimed at wooing the support of residents in the region prior to next April's general elections.
- Wiranto denied that his visit was a move to woo support from Hamengkubuwono and Golkar constituents in the province.
Synonyms
seek the support of, seek the favour of, try to win, try to attract, try to cultivate, chase, pursue, try to ingratiate oneself with, curry favour with
Derivatives
wooable
- Your bark is worse than your bite which hides a tender heart wooable by all the trappings of romance.
- They must always be aware we are desirable and wooable by rival males and or females.
- Herewith some time-tested tips to wooing the eminently wooable, just in case your town gets Olympic Fever, too.
wooer
- It helped her get into a fancy boarding school, for instance, but it also attracted superficial wooers looking for the ultimate status accessory.
- Fun-loving, spirited, humorous and attracted to outdoor amour, be warned that these high energy, exuberant wooers set a strapping pace.
- These days we have heard of similar heroic undertakings by resolute wooers.
Origin
Late Old English wōgian (intransitive), āwōgian (transitive), of unknown origin.