shoov.
/ʃuː/, U.S. /ʃu/ 1. transitive.
a. To scare or drive away (fowls, etc.) by calling out ‘shoo’ or by means of movement or gestures. Also with away, from, off, out (of). Also transferred.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (transitive)] > drive away > birds or animals
shoo1622
hurroosh1839
voetsak1897
hoosh1908
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing physical symptoms > cause physical symptoms [verb (transitive)] > frighten away > drive away fools by calling shoo
shoo1622
1622 N. Breton Strange Newes (Grosart) 12/2 With that the Cock-master came in..and shought away the Hen.
c1798 T. Brown Awd Daisy 40 Ah waved my hat an' shoo'd 'em all away.
1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd iii. 106 Think alswa How to rebut and schue awa Thir damnit faes.
1873 ‘S. Coolidge’ What Katy Did (U.K. ed.) viii. 139 ‘Shue’-ing away the other children.
1912 G. K. Chesterton Manalive 161 ‘Get inside! get inside!’ cried Moon hilariously, with the air of one shooing a company of cats.
1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold i. i. 9 Shells were falling all round till a tiny French gunboat..shooed the Numancia away out of territorial waters.
1938 W. de la Mare Memory & Other Poems 14 She shoo'd it away with her gloves.
1959 D. Beaty Cone of Silence ii. 25 Then she shooed cups and plate away from her.
1959 Listener 15 Jan. 113/2 He shakes or nods his head to shoo the flies away.
1973 ‘H. Carmichael’ Too Late for Tears viii. 108 Hope you won't mind if I shoo you out now. I've got work to do.
1977 Time 22 Aug. 10/1 Israeli artillery regularly fires into south Lebanon to shoo away Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanese Christian enclaves in the border area.
b. To drive or urge (a person, animal, etc.) in a desired direction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > impel or drive [verb (transitive)] > impel or drive animates
sendc950
driveOE
chacche138.
chasec1400
teisec1400
to take up1542
gar1587
urge1594
herd1883
shoo1903
1903 N.Y. Sun 17 Nov. 12 The police shoo everybody to the south side of the loops.
1903 N.Y. Evening Post 28 Dec. 1 So far from being gently shoved off by the Administration and ‘shooed’ toward home, Gen. Reyes has been treated with distinguished consideration.
1923 ‘B. M. Bower’ Parowan Bonanza xiii. 151 You're supposed to shoo a lady gently before you down the aisle.
1946 M. Dickens Happy Prisoner xi. 267 The first pony had already been shooed into the ring.
1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 150 I do not churlishly flatten her on to the sofa nor shoo her downstairs.
2. intransitive. To cry out ‘shoo’ in order to frighten or drive away fowls, etc. Const. at.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > other vocal sounds > [verb (intransitive)] > shoo
shoo1763
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)] > drive away (usually birds or animals)
shoo1763
the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > causing physical symptoms > cause physical symptoms [verb (intransitive)] > drive away fowls by calling 'shoo'
shoo1763
1763 ‘T. Bobbin’ Toy-shop (new ed.) 21 Still they kept Shuing.
1881 M. L. Molesworth Adv. Herr Baby 120 It was very funny to see the way the little footman went ‘shoo-ing’ at the poor cat.
3. To hasten away, as after being ‘shooed at’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)] > go away suddenly or hastily
fleec825
runOE
swervea1225
biwevec1275
skip1338
streekc1380
warpa1400
yerna1400
smoltc1400
stepc1460
to flee (one's) touch?1515
skirr1548
rubc1550
to make awaya1566
lope1575
scuddle1577
scoura1592
to take the start1600
to walk off1604
to break awaya1616
to make off1652
to fly off1667
scuttle1681
whew1684
scamper1687
whistle off1689
brush1699
to buy a brush1699
to take (its, etc.) wing1704
decamp1751
to take (a) French leave1751
morris1765
to rush off1794
to hop the twig1797
to run along1803
scoot1805
to take off1815
speela1818
to cut (also make, take) one's lucky1821
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
absquatulize1829
mosey1829
absquatulate1830
put1834
streak1834
vamoose1834
to put out1835
cut1836
stump it1841
scratch1843
scarper1846
to vamoose the ranch1847
hook1851
shoo1851
slide1859
to cut and run1861
get1861
skedaddle1862
bolt1864
cheese it1866
to do a bunkc1870
to wake snakes1872
bunk1877
nit1882
to pull one's freight1884
fooster1892
to get the (also to) hell out (of)1892
smoke1893
mooch1899
to fly the coop1901
skyhoot1901
shemozzle1902
to light a shuck1905
to beat it1906
pooter1907
to take a run-out powder1909
blow1912
to buzz off1914
to hop it1914
skate1915
beetle1919
scram1928
amscray1931
boogie1940
skidoo1949
bug1950
do a flit1952
to do a scarper1958
to hit, split or take the breeze1959
to do a runner1980
to be (also get, go) ghost1986
1851 T. Sternberg Dial. & Folk-lore Northants. 95 Lady lock, lady lock! shoo all the way home.
a1869 C. Spence From Braes of Carse (1898) 192 The fairies..beat the beldames blank and hollow, And sent them sheughing down the Ballo'.
1882 P. Robinson Under Sun iii. v. 213 If the domestic says shoo to her [the cat] she shoos at once.
4. transitive. With in, to allow a racehorse to win easily. U.S. slang. Cf. shoo-in n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > ride horse in race [verb (transitive)] > actions of rider
bore1677
jostle1723
pinch1740
pull1781
rope1854
screw1855
corner1861
ride1863
ready1887
poach1891
nurse1893
to ask (a horse) the question1894
stiffen1900
shoo1908
rate1946
stop1954
niggle1963
1908 G. E. Smith Racing Maxims & Methods of ‘Pittsburgh Phil’ ix. 123 There were many times presumably that ‘Tod’ would win through such manipulations, being ‘shooed in’, as it were.
1935 D. Runyon Money from Home 128 They are going to shoo in Never Despair.
1976 New Yorker 22 Mar. 85/2 To be sure, Shoemaker's confreres could have shooed him in long before this, but jockeys never, never do such things.
Derivatives
ˈshooer n. in combination bird-shooer.
ΚΠ
1849 J. O. Halliwell Pop. Rhymes & Nursery Tales 179 This is the universal bird-shooer's song in the midland counties.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
shooint.1
/ʃuː/, U.S. /ʃu/ An exclamation used to frighten or drive away poultry, birds, or other intruders. Also shoohoo. Also as n.
ΘΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > other vocal sounds > [interjection] > shoo, etc.
shoo1483
huff1486
st1552
hoosh1874
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [interjection] > to birds or animals
shoo1483
huff1486
1483 Cath. Angl. 338/1 Schowe ssou, jnterieccio est.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Scioiare, to cry shooe shooe, as women do to their hens.
a1626 J. Fletcher & W. Rowley Maid in Mill v. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Cccc2/1 Shough, shough, up to your coop, Peay Hen.
1639 J. Clarke Paroemiologia 145 He cannot say shooh to a goose.
1675 T. Hobbes tr. Homer Odysses xv. 139 An eagle..seis'd a great white tame goose grazing near: The standers-by shouted and cri'd, Shue! shue! But yet away the eagle bore him clear.
1681 T. Otway Souldiers Fortune iv. i. 53 Shoogh, shoogh, get you into a corner when I bid you, shoogh, shoogh, shoogh, what there already?
1822 T. Mitchell tr. Aristophanes Wasps in tr. Aristophanes Comedies II. 191 Shuh! shuh! foolish bird, must I stone 'ee?
1829 J. Hunter Hallamshire Gloss. Shoo, the interjection used in frighting away birds from their prey.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxxix. 394 Shoohoo! Get out, you goblin!
1891 J. L. Kipling Beast & Man in India ii. 44 The servant shows the master a fowl standing on one leg. The master crows sho! and the fowl runs away with two.
1894 S. R. Crockett Raiders xxxvii. 311 An owl flew by..and I heard him say, ‘Shoo, you beast!’
1896 J. Barlow Mrs. Martin's Company 41 A..burly man, who says ‘shoo-shoo’ to a..cluster of tiny yellow ducks.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
shooshoint.2
/ʃuː/, /ʃʊ/, U.S. /ʃu/, /ʃʊ/ dialect and U.S.
An exclamation indicating impatient or contemptuous rejection of a statement. Cf. pshaw v.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > denial or contradiction > [interjection]
shoo1845
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
1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xi. 71 ‘Sho! its humans you are speaking of,’ replied Nimrod.
1856 P. Thompson Hist. & Antiq. Boston, Lincoln 722 Shoo or Shah. Pshaw! a peevish reply.
1883 J. C. Harris in Cent. Mag. May 139/2 Shoo! won't my ole 'oman holler!
1900 S. J. Weyman Sophia xiv ‘Sho!’ Lady Betty cried contemptuously.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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