hoo

Pronoun

hoo (third-person singular, feminine, nominative case, accusative and possessive her, possessive hers, reflexive herself)

1. (South Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire) she
   • 1854, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, North and South, Chapter VIII:

     'Aye, aye,' said the father, impatiently, 'hoo'll come. Hoo's a bit set up now, because hoo thinks I might ha' spoken more civilly; but hoo'll think better on it, and come. I can read her proud bonny face like a book.

2. (West Midlands and South West England) he, also a gender-neutral third person pronoun

Interjection

hoo

1. (obsolete) hurrah; an exclamation of triumphant joy
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo!

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     With, hoo! such bugs and goblins in my life

2. (Geordie) Used to attract the attention of others.

   "Hoo yee!"

3. An exclamation of pain.
   • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 98:

     Old Peter, summoned to assist at getting Mrs Dibble upstairs, made no pretence of commiseration for the sufferer. "Gone and done it again, have you?" he said with satisfaction. "About the best thing you could have done, the way it'll keep you out of the shop a bit longer," which so far revived Mrs Dibble that she exclaimed fiercely, "I don't want none of your cheek, Peter Bodfish and not a minute you'd stay in my shop if - Hoo! Ow! Me leg - "

Noun

hoo (plural hoos)

1. An uttering of the cry 'hoo'.
   • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 98:

     Improvising a stretcher from a cupboard door, they levered Mrs Dibble on to it and got her upstairs to "Hoos!" and "Ows!" of anguish, and laid her on the bed, where Rita administered another stiff dose of gin.

Adverb

hoo (not comparable)

1. (Northumbria, Geordie) how

References

• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “hoo”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎, archived from the original on 2024-09-05.

Noun

hoo

1. (obsolete outside placenames) A strip of land; a peninsula; a spur or ridge.

Interjection

hoo (dated)

1. eek (displaying shock and surprise)

Noun

hoo

1. aitch (The name of the Latin-script letter H/h)

Pronoun

hoo

1. Alternative form of who (“who”, nominative)

Noun

hoo

1. Alternative form of hough (“hough, hock”)