interjection
1.
(used to scare or drive away a cat, dog, chickens, birds, etc.)
verb (used with object)
2.
to drive away by saying or shouting “shoo.”
3.
to request or force (a person) to leave: I'll have to shoo you out of here now.
verb (used without object)
4.
to call out “shoo.”
Origin:
1475–85; earlier showe, shough, shooh, ssou (interjection), imitative; compare German schu
1475–85; earlier showe, shough, shooh, ssou (interjection), imitative; compare German schu
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To shoo
Collins
World English Dictionary
shoo (ʃuː) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —interj | |
| 1. | go away!: used to drive away unwanted or annoying people, animals, etc |
| —vb , shoos, shooing, shooed | |
| 2. | (tr) to drive away by or as if by crying "shoo." |
| 3. | (intr) to cry "shoo." |
| [C15: imitative; related to Middle High German schū, French shou, Italian scio] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
00:10
Shoo
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is kibitz. Does it mean:
| chat, to converse |
| to flee; abscond: |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
shoo
1620s, "to drive away by calling 'shoo,' " from the exclamation (late 15c.), instinctive, cf. Ger. schu, It. scioia. Shoo-in "easy winner (especially in politics)" (1939) was originally a horse that wins a race by pre-arrangement (1928; the verb phrase shoo in in this sense is from 1908). Shoo-fly, admonition
to a pest, was popularized by a Dan Bryant minstrel song c.1870, which launched it as a catch-phrase that, according to H.L. Mencken, "afflicted the American people for at least two years." Shoo-fly pie is attested from 1935.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Nearby Words
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
