| 释义 |
cooee, cooey, n. (also int.)|ˈkuːiː, ˈkuːɪ|
Also cow-ee, koo-eh, coohee, coo-ee, cooie.
The call or cry |kuːˈiː| used as a signal by the Australian aborigines, and adopted by the colonists in the bush. Hence gen., as a signal to draw attention to the caller. Austral. and N.Z. colloq. phr. within (a) cooee (of): within hailing distance; within easy reach, near (to).
(‘If the prolonged stress laid upon the syllable coo were expressed in letters, there ought to be six or eight oo's to the one short sharp shrill ee.’ E. A. Petherick.)
1790Vocab. in Gov. Hunter Jrnl. 408 Cow-ee to come. 1827P. Cunningham N.S. Wales II. 23 In calling to each other at a distance, the natives make use of the word Coo-ee, as we do the word Hollo, prolonging the sound of the coo, and closing that of the ee with a shrill jerk..[It has] become of general use throughout the colony; and a newcomer, in desiring an individual to call another back, soon learns to say ‘Coo-ee to him’ instead of Hollo to him. 1852J. West Hist. Tasmania II. 91 Some gentlemen, on a visit to a London theatre, to draw the attention of their friends in an opposite box, called out cooey. 1859Cornwallis New World I. 315 The ringing koo-eh of the aborigine. 1864Hotten Slang Dict. 107 Cooey, the Australian bush-call, now not unfrequently heard in the streets of London. 1871Athenæum 27 May 651 In a narrow and rocky gorge..Mr. Cooper gave the Australian cry of ‘coohee,’ which was answered by a thousand echoes. 1887G. L. Apperson in All Year Round 30 July 67/1 A common mode of expression is to be ‘within cooey’ of a place..Now to be ‘within cooey’ of Sydney is to be at the distance of an easy journey therefrom. 1889Pall Mall G. 3 Jan. 1/3 Two well-known and wealthy Australian squatters on a visit to the mother country lost themselves in a London fog, and were only reunited after a series of shrill and vigorous ‘coo-e's’. 1893Herald (Melbourne) 26 June 2/6 (Morris), Witness said that there was a post-office clock ‘within coo-ee’, or within less than half-a-mile of the station. 1896H. G. Wells Island of Dr Moreau xvii. 161 Once I was arrested by the distant voice of Montgomery bawling, ‘Coo-ee..Mor-eau!’ 1896H. Lawson When World was Wide (1900) 80 Weary teamsters struggled on while it was light, Just to camp within a cooey of the Shanty for the night. 1899‘S. Rudd’ On our Selection 28 There wasn't a horse in the district could come within cooee of her. 1916‘Anzac’ On Anzac Trail 39 The niggers..wouldn't come within coo-ee of our mob when engaged in bomb-throwing. 1933Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 10/2 In George-Street, within coo-ee of the Town Hall. 1946F. Davison Dusty xv. 164 Tom, within a cooee of seventy, had made a new start in life. 1957Times 14 Nov. 17/2 Confident ‘coo-ees’ from both sides of the ground greeted this try [by the Australian rugby team]. 1965Weekly News (Auckland) 4 Aug. 14/4 But nothing that Roux has achieved on this tour came within coo-ee of the effort of Gainsford.
Hence ˈcooee, ˈcooey v. intr., to utter this call.
1827[see above]. 1859All Year Round No. 4. 80 When I cooeyed, like a ‘black fellow’, from Queen Anne's tower. 1888McCarthy & Praed Ladies' Gallery I. i. 10 A black fellow would not coo-ēe in that way. |