Forms: 5 whoo, 5–7, 9 dial. who, 7 whoe, 8 whoh, 9 whoo. [Variant of HO int.2 = stop!] Stop! esp. as a call to a horse: = WHOA 2 (cf. WO). † Also as sb.
c. 1450. [see WHOOP int. b].
1467. in S. Bentley, Excerpta Historica (1831), 211. Then the Kyng perceyvyng the cruell assaile, cast his staff, and with high voice, cried, Whoo!
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 152. Thou art one of them, to whom god bad who, God tooke the for a carte horse, when god bad so.
1599. Chapman, Hum. dayes Myrth, Plays, 1873, I. 107. Who loe you bird, how much you are deceiued.
c. 1603. Heywood & Rowley, Fortune by Land, II. i. Come Ile go teach ye hayte and ree, gee and whoe, and which is to which hand.
1606. Choice, Chance, etc. (1881), 15. The ploughman … with haye Ree, & Who to his horse.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. III. xiv. 165. He is madd, madd, no whoe with him.
1797. T. Morton, Cure for Heart-ache, I. Scene I.——A Farm Yard…. The Bells of a Team jingling.
1814. Sporting Mag., XLIV. 146. Come hither, who-o.
1841. Punch, 17 July, 5/2. COACHMAN.—Whoo up!—d—n you!
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xii. There was a great deal of strong language, mingled with soothing ‘who-ho’s’ while the leg was examined.
