Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used to indicate impatience, irritation, disapproval, or disbelief.
from The Century Dictionary.
- An exclamation implying contempt, disdain, impatience, or a sense of absurdity.
- To utter the interjection pshaw; evince contempt or impatience by such interjections as pshaw.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To express disgust or contemptuous disapprobation, as by the exclamation “
Pshaw !” - interjection Pish! pooch! -- an exclamation used as an expression of contempt, disdain, dislike, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection Indicating
disapproval ,irritation ,impatience ordisbelief . - verb intransitive To express
disgust orcontempt .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pshaw.
Examples
-
And to those who say that the Internet is killing newspapers, Peter says "pshaw" - a recent study has shown that not to be the case.
TechCrunch Paul Carr 2010
-
And to those who say that the Internet is killing newspapers, Peter says "pshaw" - a recent study has shown that not to be the case.
TechCrunch Paul Carr 2010
-
Although this little word pshaw must be allowed, according to all the rules of verbal criticism, to imply disbelief or indifference, yet, in the present case, it actually meant no such thing.
Ashton Priory Anonymous 1792
-
My husband actually uses the word "pshaw" on occasion.
Alas, poor Snarklings Miss Snark 2005
-
He looked as if he intended to say "pshaw" or "fiddlesticks" or something of that order, then changed his mind and looked up sharply.
When Eight Bells Toll MacLean, Alistair, 1922-1987 1966
-
"You kin 'pshaw' till the cows come home," cried the other heatedly.
Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp or, the Old Lumberman's Secret Annie Roe Carr
-
We may "pshaw" and "pooh" at Harry Gill and the Idiot Boy; but the deep and tremulous tenderness of sentiment, the strong-winged flight of fancy, the excelling and unvarying purity, which pervade all the writings of Wordsworth, and the exquisite melody of his lyrical poems, must ever continue to attract and purify the mind.
International Weekly Miscellany - Volume 1, No. 9, August 26, 1850 Various
-
[quote] [quote = "pshaw"] This is very scary because of two questions that the 911 operator asks to determine the "degree of force and maximum force allowed by the responding officers":
-
[quote] [quote = "pshaw"] This is very scary because of two questions that the 911 operator asks to determine the "degree of force and maximum force allowed by the responding officers":
-
[quote] [quote = "pshaw"] This is very scary because of two questions that the 911 operator asks to determine the "degree of force and maximum force allowed by the responding officers":
treeseed commented on the word pshaw
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
Main Entry: pshaw
Pronunciation: \ˈshȯ\
Function: interjection
Date: 1656
—used to express irritation, disapproval, contempt, or disbelief
April 30, 2008