English

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, Jones Brothers, OCLC 7349592, page 611:

     Well, 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.

Translations

Verb

hoot ‎(third-person singular simple present hoots, present participle hooting, simple past and past participle hooted)

1. To cry out or shout in contempt.
   • Dryden

     Matrons and girls shall hoot at thee no more.

2. To make the cry of an owl.
   • Shakespeare

     the clamorous owl that nightly hoots

3. To assail with contemptuous cries or shouts; to follow with derisive shouts.
   • Jonathan Swift

     Partridge and his clan may hoot me for a cheat.

Translations

See also

• hooter
• hootenanny

Anagrams

• otoh, OTOH

Middle English

Adjective

hoot

1. hot

Descendants

• English: hot

Scots

Interjection

hoot

1. Precedes a disagreeing or contradictory statement.

Usage notes

• Frequently used in the set phrases hoot mon or hoots mon.