• Hoot

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -uːt

    Full definition of hoot

    Noun

    hoot

    (plural hoots)
    1. A derisive cry or shout.
    2. The cry of an owl.
    3. (US, slang) A fun event or person. (See hootenanny)
    4. A small particle
      • 1878, John Hanson Beadle, Western Wilds, and the Men who Redeem Them, page 611, Jones Brothers, 1878Well, it was Sunday morning, and the wheat nothing like ripe; but it was a chance, and I got onto my reaper and banged down every hoot of it before Monday night.

    Usage notes

    (small particle) The term is nearly always encountered in a negative sense in such phrases as don't care a hoot or don't give two hoots.

    (derisive cry) The phrase a hoot and a holler has a very different meaning to hoot and holler. The former is a short distance, the latter is a verb of derisive cry.

    Verb

    1. To cry out or shout in contempt.
      • DrydenMatrons and girls shall hoot at thee no more.
    2. To make the cry of an owl.
      • Shakespearethe clamorous owl that nightly hoots
    3. To assail with contemptuous cries or shouts; to follow with derisive shouts.
      • Jonathan SwiftPartridge and his clan may hoot me for a cheat.

    Anagrams

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