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Webster 1913 Edition
Oh
Webster 1828 Edition
Oh
OH
, exclam. Denoting surprise, pain, sorrow or anxiety.Definition 2024
oh
oh
English
Interjection
oh
- Expression of surprise.
- Oh! I didn't see you there.
- Expression of wonder, amazement, or awe.
- Oh, wow! That's amazing.
- Expression of understanding, recognition, or realization.
- Oh, so that's how it works.
- A word to precede an offhand or annoyed remark.
- Oh, leave me alone.
- A word to precede an added comment or afterthought.
- Oh, and don't forget your coat.
- An invocation or address (similar to the vocative in languages with noun declension), often with a tern of endearment.
- Oh, gosh
- Oh, baby
- Exclamation for drama or emphasis (often poetic).
- Oh, when will it end?
- Sir Walter Raleigh
- Oh, by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings, oppressions, imprisonments, tortures, poisonings, and under what reasons of state and politic subtilty, have these forenamed kings […] pulled the vengeance of God upon themselves […]
- Expression of pain. See ouch.
- Oh! That hurt.
- 1749, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Part 2
- "Oh! . . . oh! . . . I can't bear it . . . It is too much . . . I die . . . I am going . . ." were Polly's expressions of extasy
- 1749, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Part 2
- Space filler or extra syllable, especially in (popular) music.
- oh, oh, oh
- (interrogative) Expression of mild scepticism
- "You should watch where you're going!" "Oh?"
Alternative forms
Particularly in the context of internet conversations, "oh" is sometimes written with additional Os or Hs - for example, oooh or ohhh.
Related terms
Translations
expression of surprise
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Noun
oh (plural ohs)
- the letter O, o (more commonly spelled o)
- Ben Bova (2006) Titan, p. 33
- One genuine recycled local glass of aitch-two-oh
- Ben Bova (2006) Titan, p. 33
- the digit 0 (especially in representations of speech)
- My telephone number is four-double-three-two-oh-nine.
- An utterance of oh; a spoken expression of surprise, acknowledgement, etc.
- Seabert Parsons, The Lost Codex of Palenque (page 240)
- There were ohs and ahs, and the people twisted about as they looked for her. Then they began to applaud.
- Seabert Parsons, The Lost Codex of Palenque (page 240)
Verb
oh (third-person singular simple present ohs, present participle ohing, simple past and past participle ohed)
- (intransitive) To utter the interjection oh; to express surprise, etc.
- 1852, Merry's museum and Parley's magazine (volumes 23-24, page 46)
- A quarter of an hour elapsed, and then, after several rings at the door-bell, a smothered laugh, and a good deal of ohing and ahing, the door was thrown open, and one by one, as they were announced, in came the expected characters.
- 1852, Merry's museum and Parley's magazine (volumes 23-24, page 46)