shoo

Etymology

It is an instinctive or imitative exclamation.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} It is inherited from Middle English shou, also showe, scou and ssou,^[7][8][9] and as schowe.^[10][7] The OED compares Low German schu, Middle High German schu, also schuo, modern German schu, French shou and Italian scioia;^[2][11] Etymonline adds chou and sciò, and suggests that the sound may be instinctive or particularly effective.^[12] The verb is a conversion of the exclamation; the OED compares scioiare, recorded by Florio.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An exclamation used to drive away hens: about 1450, as showe in a Latin–English dictionary, and as schowe in the Catholicon Anglicum (about 1475; 1483 in the OED).^[7][2] Dictionary.com dates it to 1475–85.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The exclamation, used to scare off poultry, birds and other intruders, soon became a verb: to drive birds away by crying shoo or by gestures is recorded from 1622, in Nicholas Breton,^[2][12] though Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the transitive verb only to about 1798.^[10] The intransitive senses followed: to cry shoo at fowls (1763) and to hurry away as if shooed (1851, in a Northamptonshire dialect glossary).^[2] From 1903 the verb was used more loosely for urging a person or animal in a chosen direction.^[2][3] In American racing slang, to shoo in a horse was to let it win easily (1908),^[2][12] the source of shoo-in, a fixed race or its winner (1928) and then any certain winner, especially in politics (1939).^[2][12] Wright's dialect dictionary found the exclamation in general use in Scotland, Ireland, England and America, in forms such as shue, shew and shu.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – exclamation used to drive away hens.^[7]
• 1622 – verb, to drive away birds by crying shoo.^[2][12]
• 1763 – intransitive, to cry shoo at fowls.^[2]
• 1851 – to hurry away as if shooed.^[2]
• 1903 – to urge a person or animal in a chosen direction.^[2][3]
• 1908 – US slang, shoo in, to let a racehorse win easily.^[2][12]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Used to drive away an unwanted animal or person: “Shoo!” she said to the cat on the table.^[5][10][14]

Verb

1. To drive away by crying shoo or by waving: He shooed the pigeons off the balcony.^{[5][10][14][2]}
2. To send or urge a person or animal in a chosen direction: The teacher shooed the pupils into the hall.^[10][2][3]
3. To cry shoo in order to frighten off birds or animals.^[5][2]
4. (US slang) With in: to let a racehorse win easily.^[2][3]

Word family

• shoo-in
• shoofly pie
• shoo-fly plant

Related words

• hoosh

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin