tu-whoov.
/tᵿˈwuː/, U.S. /tuˈ(h)wu/ intransitive. Of an owl: to make its characteristic call or hoot (see tu-whoo int.). Sometimes: spec. (of a male tawny owl) to make its characteristic hooting response to the call of a female (see tu-whit v.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [verb (intransitive)] > hoot
hoota1500
whoopa1556
tu-whoo1824
tu-whit1866
tu-whoot1912
owl1941
1824 New Monthly Mag. 10 49 The owls kept toowhooing and staring.
1843 W. M. Thackeray Bluebeard's Ghost in Wks. (1908) VI. 363 An owl was too-whooing from the church tower.
1893 S. Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Zita III. xxxvii. 154 A barn-owl..to-whooed in its terror.
1963 N.Y. Times 29 Dec. 59/1 Presumably owls somewhere are merrily tu-witting and tu-whoing.
2014 @AYomTov 7 Apr. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) There is a tawny owl tu-whooing just outside my window.
Derivatives
tu-ˈwhooing n.
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
1838 M. Howitt Birds & Flowers 201 Pray thee, Owl, what art thou doing, With that dolefulest tu-whoo-ing?
1843 W. M. Thackeray Bluebeard's Ghost in Wks. (1908) VI. 363 The toowhooing of the owl.
2011 Times (Nexis) 19 Nov. (Weekend section) 18 You hear their Hammer Horror toowhooing often enough, and also their less well-known and quite separate toowitting contact call.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
tu-whooint.n.
/tᵿˈwuː/, U.S. /tuˈ(h)wu/ A. int.
Representing the characteristic call or hoot of an owl; (sometimes) spec. representing the characteristic hooting response of a male tawny owl to the call of a female (see tu-whit int.). Cf. tu-whit tu-whoo int.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [interjection] > cry of owl
tu-whoo1579
whoo1581
tu-whit1591
tu-whit tu-whoo1594
woo-hoo1771
boo hoo1799
1579 T. Lodge Protogenes 14 You had neede play the night burd now, for you day Owl hath misconned his parte, and for to who now a dayes he cryes foole you.
1816 S. T. Coleridge Christabel i. Concl. 22 From cliff and tower, tu—whoo! tu—whoo! Tu—whoo! tu—whoo! from wood and fell!
1862 G. Borrow Wild Wales liii The owl..who cried Too-hoo-hoo.
1872 Ld. Tennyson Last Tournament in Gareth & Lynette 111 Tuwhoo! do ye see it? do ye see the star?
1906 Essex Rev. 15 54 The White or Barn owl cries ‘Tu-which’, and the Brown owl ‘Tu-whoo’, or ‘Hoohoo; hoo, hoo, hoo, Hoo-hoo’.
2009 Independent 6 Jan. 15/4 The tawny owl..is..best known for its two call-notes, which have entered into folklore: the screech of the female (‘tu-whit’), and the musical hoot of the male (‘tu-whoo’).
B. n.
The characteristic call or hoot of an owl; (sometimes) spec. the characteristic hooting response of a male tawny owl to the call of a female (see tu-whit n.). Cf. tu-whit tu-whoo n. 2.
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
1830 Ld. Tennyson Poems 47 Not a whit of thy tuwhoo, Thee to woo to thy tuwhit.
1889 Hilman's Handbk. Chepstow & Wye (ed. 4) App. 125 Unless fair Philomel is silenced by the too-whoo of the prowling owl.
1903 Pall Mall Mag. Apr. 468/1 The tu-whits and tu-whoos of ‘the staring owl’ were nightly sung about the precincts.
1988 G. R. Bussino tr. L. Pirandello Tales of Suicide 38 He instinctively concentrated on those tu whoos that called to each other in the enchanted silence.
2012 Sunday Times (Nexis) 17 Mar. (Weekend section) 21 It is the female that produces the ‘tu-whit’ note, while the male responds with his hooting ‘tu-whoo’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1824
int.n.1579