Also 6 whoope, whoup. [f. WHOOP int.; cf. HOOP sb.2]
1. An act of whooping; a cry of ‘whoop!,’ or a shout or call resembling this; spec. as used in hunting, esp. at the death of the game, or by N. American Indians, etc., as a signal or war-cry (see also WAR-WHOOP); occas. the hoot of an owl.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 3. All with one voyce,… with whoopes, whowes and hoobubs, would thrust them out.
1620. Quarles, Feast for Worms, § 6. When all thy laughter shall be turn’d to Doole;… Thy whoops of Ioy, to howles of sad lamenting.
1622. Fletcher, Beggars’ Bush, V. i. I’ll use My wonted whoops, and hollows, as I were A hunting for ’em.
1672. Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Rehearsal, V. i. Ere a Full-pot of good Ale you can swallow, He’s here with a whoop, and gone with a holla.
1675. in I. Mather, K. Philip’s War (1862), 246. They signified their sense of his approach by their whoops or watchwords.
a. 1700. in W. King, Usef. Trans. Philos. (1709), 44. I must acknowledge my Happiness, who in a Manuscript found the following Verses,…
| Boys, Boys, come out to play, | |
| The Moon doth shine as bright as day; | |
| Come with a whoop, come with a Call, | |
| Come with a good will or not at all. |
1775. Adair, Amer. Ind., 276. I put up the shrill whoop of friendship. Ibid., 277. Instead of sounding the usual whoop of defiance, I went on slowly.
1808. Skurray, Bidcombe Hill, 9. O’er hedge and ditch we fly, ’Till the loud whoop proclaims the ended chase.
1815. Scott, Lett., 19 Jan., in Lockhart. We are much nearer neighbours, and within a whoop and a holla. Ibid. (1831), Cast. Dang., xi. Something resembling the whoop of the night-owl.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxv. With a joyous whoop the whole cluster took to their heels.
b. The characteristic sonorous inspiration following a fit of coughing in whooping-cough.
Also applied to similar sounds (see quot. 1899).
1873. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (ed. 4), 240. A long and labored inspiration then takes place, giving rise to a crowing sound evidently due to spasm of the glottis; this is the whoop which enters into the name of the affection.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 239. When the whoop appears his power of communicating the disease begins to decline. Ibid. (1899), VII. 452. Occasionally the impediment is aggravated by the occurrence of associated sounds with the stutter, the patient emitting unpleasant little whoops, grunts, or whimpering sounds during his efforts to speak.
2. A form of the game of hide-and-seek. Also whoop-hide. (In first quot. allusively.)
1798. in Windham Papers (1913), II. 77. He will not now be dodging with the world and playing at whoop with all his friends.
1861. Miss Yonge, Stokesley Secr., ii. I thought they were to have a great game at whoop-hide.
1869. Latest News, 26 Sept., 16. He was playing at whoop…, and to avoid being discovered by a companion he got upon some new coping, which gave way.
