hooraw

hooraw

1. Used to express joy, excitement, amusement, or approval; hooray.
   • 1825, Charles Dibdin, The Sea Songs of the Immortal Charles Dibdin, page 90:

     Then hooraw for the Tars of old England so free, The pride of the world, and the lords of the sea, The pride of the world, and the lords of the sea.

   • 1844, Charles Sealsfield, Life In The New World; Or Sketches Of American Society:

     “Hooraw !” cried one of the spectators, whose red flannel shirt seemed to indicate the propriety of looking out for a new One.

   • 1865 May – 1866 August, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, chapter XVI, in Cradock Nowell: A Tale of the New Forest. , volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, , published 1866, →OCLC, page 265:

     "Hooraw—hooraw!" cried a dozen and a half of boys, "here be Hempror o' Roosia coming."

   • 1889, Mrs. J. W. Shoemaker, The Elocutionist’s Annual, number 17, page 46:

     "Hooraw for the 'Lantas! Hooraw for the girls! Hooraw for the Institoot!" shout a hundred voices.

hooraw (plural hooraws)

1. A noisy or boisterous gathering or activity; uproar.
   • 1889 January-June, Martin J. Griffin, “Diary of a Visitor in New York During the Presidential Election”, in Murray's Magazine, volume 5, page 89:

     They march in processions and get up hooraws, And wade through the mud for the good of the cause

   • 1997, Dana Stabenow, Breakup, →ISBN, page 171:

     Today the arts had been abandoned for sport, in this case basketball, and from the hooraw going on in the corner of the room it would appear some money was riding on the outcome.

   • 2003, William Walling, Olympus Mons, →ISBN:

     Compared to the audience at that first special session, these Marsrats didn'g partake of any shouting matches, cries for attention or self-centered complaining about quake damage. No hooraw at all, which struck me as surprising and surely disappointed Black-like-me.

   • 2010, Stephen King, The Green Mile, →ISBN, page 172:

     We've had us one hooraw this afternoon, and that's enough.

2. An unsophisticated person.
   • 2012, William W. Johnstone, Blood of Eagles, →ISBN:

     Besides, some of those hooraws will know you on sight.

   • 2016, William T. Delamar, Atavus Falls, →ISBN:

     "I never knew no hooraws before, Long Man," said Clint. "Reckon I can get used to you, though."

   • 2016, William T. Delamar, Atavus Falls, →ISBN:

     Well, I might be a hooraw, but I didn't creep out of no patch of skunk cabbage.

3. A nonce word.
   • 1978, Canada. Parliament. House of Commons, House of Commons Debates, Official Report - Volume 2, page 1501:

     In fact, when you see all these things happening, Mr. Speaker, when you listen to that kind of hooraw — coming from the other side — it is a wonderful example of the awful things that can happen when cousins marry.

   • 2006, Michael Grunwald, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise, →ISBN, page 785:

     After unleashing a tirade of profanity: Lawrence Will recorded his response as: “Dag-nabbit, I can't even set foot on the blasphemous property to see what in the hooraw I've bought!”

   • 2011, Poul Anderson, The Trouble Twisters, →ISBN:

     So the Consecrates are cocked and primed to go off, in an explosion of reinterpretations, reformations, counter-reformations, revelations, new doctrines, fundamentalist reactions, and every other kind of hooraw we humans have been through.

hooraw (third-person singular simple present hooraws, present participle hoorawing, simple past and past participle hoorawed)

1. To make loud noises at, such as when driving horses or cattle.
   • 2007, Tabor Evans, Longarm and the Dwarf's Darling, →ISBN:

     As the driver hoorawed the horses and the three other passengers grabbed the hand straps for support, Friendly ran up to Longarm's window, looking harried.

   • 2008, Lauran Paine, Feud on the Mesa, →ISBN, page 216:

     He was in the act of dismounting when someone up ahead through the underbrush hoorawed a loose horse.

   • 2011, Ralph Compton, Joseph A. West, The Last Manhunt, →ISBN:

     Some of the boys down there still had their rifles and he'd be deader than mutton a second after he started to hooraw the herd.

2. To loudly and publicly celebrate or express support for someone or something.
   • 1867, Mrs. Francis Miriam (Berry) Whitcher, M. L. Ward Whitcher, Widow Spriggins, Mary Elmer, and Other Sketches, page 370:

     Sha'nt I have to hooraw nor nothin'? 'cause 'twould go awfully agin my conshence to hooraw for Van Buren.

   • 1969, John M. Harrison, The Man who Made Nasby: David Ross Locke, page 73:

     I wuz permitted 2 rize after hoorawing for Duglis.

   • 2012, Charlotte MacLeod, The Grub-and-Stakers House a Haunt, →ISBN:

     Seems to me I hoorawed around for a while an' poured me a snort o' redeye to celebrate, but then I got to thinkin'.

3. To fool; to trick.
   • 2011, Brian Garfield, Wild Times:

     Hey, you just got hoorawed, boy, you got your leg pulled.

   • 2015, James W. Bennett, Donald Raycraft, Old Hoss: A Fictional Baseball Biography of Charles Radbourn, →ISBN:

     I know all about the limit, but I figure a man as smart and important as you can find a way to hooraw the deal so the other owners won't know.

   • 2016, Jake Jacobson, Alaska Flying: Surviving Incidents & Accidents, →ISBN:

     I wasn't going to let myself be hoorawed by any avaricious bush mechanic, especially one who looked like he wasn't busy, as this one did.

4. To make fun of.
   • 1897, Thomas Nelson Page, Marse Chan: A Tale of Old Virginia, page 21:

     Yo' see, it happen so : Marse Chan he wuz a- speakin' down at de Deep Creek Tavern, an' he kind o' got de bes' of ole Cun'l Chahmb'lin. All de white folks laughed an' hoorawed, an' ole Cun'l Chahmb'lin -- My Lawd! I t'ought he'd 'a' bu'st, he was so mad.

   • 2010, Howard Frank Mosher, Walking to Gatlinburg: A Novel, →ISBN, page 214:

     She told Morgan, whose face was still badly swollen and bruised, that he cut a grand handsome figure, and he wondered how, in her female scheme of things, it was acceptable for her to hooraw his appearance when he was not allowed to poke innocent fun at hers.

   • 2011, Elmer Kelton, Dark Thicket, →ISBN:

     And that grinnin' Banty Tillotson will hooraw me for a week.