Wo

int. [Variant of WHO int.]

  1.  In wo ho, wo ha, wo ho ho, wo ha ho: a falconer’s call to a hawk; also allusively.

1588.  Marprel. Epistle (Arb.), 33. Wohohow, brother London, do you remember Thomas Allen?

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., V. i. 39. Clo. Sola, sola: wo ha ho, sola, sola.

1599.  T. Cutwode, Caltha Poet. (Roxb.), cxxxvi. Come bird com … come to me, With so ho ho, and wo ho ho cries she.

1606.  Chapman, Gentl. Usher, V. i. Ile rush vpon themn With a most hideous cry, the Duke, the Duke, the Duke, Ha, ha, ha, wo ho, come againe, I say.

1829.  Scott, Anne of G., xvii. A woodcock sprung from some bushes, and the young lady threw off her merlin in pursuit. ‘Sa ho—sa ho—wo ha!’ hollowed the falconer.

  2.  A call to a horse to stop (cf. WHO int., WHOA, WOA, and WAY int.). Also used in conjunction with other interjections, as wo-back, wo-ho, hait-wo.

  Also dial. in various combinations with special applications; cf. quot. 1894.

1787.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 24. That he is docile, and will stop short with a ‘Wohey.’

a. 1800.  Pegge, Anecd. (1814), 11. When our waggoners and carmen make use of the terms ge and wo to their horses.

1801.  G. Colman, Poor Gentl., I. i. 1. Farmer Harrowby, without. Wo, ho! gently wi ’em! so there!

1823.  E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Wooh or Woo-e, an imperative to stop cart horses.

a. 1825.  Hait-wo [see HAIT int.].

1834.  Whately, in Life & Corr. (1866), I. 247. It is stopping the Horse by a woo-ee instead of a sharp pull of the curb.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., v. ‘Wo—o!’ cried Mr. Pickwick, as the tall quadruped evinced a decided inclination to back into the coffee-room window. Ibid. (1838), Nickleby, vi. ‘Wo ho!’ cried the guard,… running to the leaders’ heads.

1840.  Thackeray, Barber Cox, March. I pulled very hard, and cried out, Wo! but he wouldn’t: and on I went galloping for the dear life.

1871.  [see GEE int.].

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 142. The carter’s lads shouting ‘Woaght!’ to the horses as they steer through the gateway.

1894.  Northumbld. Gloss., Wo, Wo-hay, a cartman’s order to his horse to stop or stand still. Wo-hi and Wo-hick, turn to left or near side. Wo-hup or Wo-gee, turn to right or off side.

  Hence Wo v. intr., to call ‘wo’ to a horse; also in vbl. sb. (also wohohing).

1883.  W. Besant, in Good Words, 10/2. You may hear … the wo-wo-ing of the ploughboy.

1835.  Rider Haggard, Witch’s Head, xxxiii. Presently from the stables there arose a sound of kicking, plunging, and wohohing impossible to describe.

1889.  T. E. Brown, Manx Witch, 2–3.