Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used to catch someone's attention.
- interjection Used to urge on hounds in a hunt.
- noun A shout or call of “halloo.”
- intransitive verb To shout “halloo.”
- intransitive verb To urge on or pursue by calling “halloo” or shouting.
- intransitive verb To call out to.
- intransitive verb To shout or yell (something).
from The Century Dictionary.
- An exclamation used to call the attention of a person at a distance, or in hunting to incite the dogs.
- To cry out; call with a loud voice; shout; cry, as after dogs.
- To call or shout to; incite or chase with shouts and cries of “Halloo!”
- To cry aloud; utter with shouts.
- noun A call, cry, or shout uttered to attract attention, or as a signal, as in hunting to urge on the dogs.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A loud exclamation; a call to invite attention or to incite a person or an animal; a shout.
- interjection An exclamation to call attention or to encourage one. Now mostly replaced by
hello . - transitive verb To encourage with shouts.
- transitive verb To chase with shouts or outcries.
- transitive verb To call or shout to; to hail.
- intransitive verb To cry out; to exclaim with a loud voice; to call to a person, as by the word
halloo .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection Used to
greet someone, or to catch theirattention - interjection Used in hunting to urge on the pursuers
- noun A
shout of halloo - verb To shout halloo
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a shout to attract attention
- verb urge on with shouts
- verb shout `halloo', as when greeting someone or attracting attention
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Then I hallooed, first making sure that there was no one lurking near to overhear, and waved my handkerchief, keeping my horse standing to his fetlocks in the current, until over the water came an answering halloo from the Golden Horn, and I could plainly see Captain Calvin Tabor on the quarter-deck.
The Heart's Highway: A Romance of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century 1900
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Sophie acknowledged the fact with a grimace as, with a wave and a whooping "halloo," Clarissa shot past.
A Lady of Expectations Laurens, Stephanie 1995
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Sophie acknowledged the fact with a grimace as, with a wave and a whooping "halloo," Clarissa shot past.
A Lady of Expectations Laurens, Stephanie 1995
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One might "halloo" to an old acquaintance forty rods distant, down a country lane; but on Broadway he bows only to the ones whom he meets point blank.
Etiquette Agnes H. Morton
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At the same moment there was a "halloo" outside, and a woman burst open the door, turning quickly to shut out behind her the onrush of the shower and the biting cold of the wind.
Golden Stories A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers Various
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The real pioneer never emigrates gregariously; he does not wish to be within "halloo" of his nearest neighbor; he is no city-builder; and, if he does project a town, he christens it by some such name as Boonville or Clarksville, in memory of a noted pioneer: or Jacksonville or
Western Characters or Types of Border Life in the Western States J. L. McConnel
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"Now jump!" cried Niels; and with one joyous "halloo" the children were on the broad, springy plank, enjoying to the utmost this novel pleasure.
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A faint "halloo" would answer when she heard him, and then he would find her under a tree or bush, with her unfortunate head between her hands, a picture of misery.
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He raised his voice in a long "halloo" and rapped three times on the table.
Two Little Savages Being the adventures of two boys who lived as Indians and what they learned Ernest Thompson Seton 1903
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It was distant, - a singsong note, resembling the woodland "halloo" we often hear.
The end of an era, 1899
brtom commented on the word halloo
And truly so am I; for he sometimes whoops like a speaking trumpet—(TONY hallooing behind the scenes)—O, there he goes—a very consumptive figure, truly.
Goldsmith, She Stoops, I
January 8, 2007