Yahoos

- 5 dictionary results

Ya⋅hoo

[yah-hoo, yey-, yah-hoo]

–noun, plural -hoos.

1.	(in Swift's Gulliver's Travels) one of a race of brutes, having the form and all the vices of humans, who are subject to the Houyhnhnms.

2.	(lowercase) an uncultivated or boorish person; lout; philistine; yokel.

3.	(lowercase) a coarse or brutish person.

Origin:
coined by Swift in Gulliver's Travels (1726)

Related forms:

ya⋅hoo⋅ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Yahoos

ya·hoo (yä'hōō, yā'-)

n. pl. ya·hoos
A crude or brutish person. See Synonyms at boor.

[From Yahoo, member of a race of brutes in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.]
ya'hoo·ism n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

Yahoos [(yah-hoohz)]

The crude, dirty “brutes” of the land of the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift. The Yahoos are irrational people and represent the worst side of humanity. By contrast, the wise and gentle Houyhnhnms, their masters, are rational horses and represent humanity at its best.

Note: A “yahoo” is an uncouth or uncivilized person.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

yahoo [ˈjɑhu]

n.
a rustic oaf; an uncouth jerk. : Ask that yahoo to close the door after him.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

yahoo

"a brute in human form," 1726, from the race of brutish human creatures in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels."

Search another word or see Yahoos on Thesaurus | Reference

»saturnine
»delectation

»copula
»stormy petrel

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