Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
howdy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
howdy, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
howdy in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
howdy you have here. The definition of the word
howdy will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
howdy, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Shortened form of "how d'ye (do)" (i.e. how do you do).
Interjection
howdy
- (chiefly Texas, informal) An informal greeting.
Howdy folks, and welcome to our ninth annual chili cookoff!
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
Verb
howdy (third-person singular simple present howdies, present participle howdying, simple past and past participle howdied)
- (transitive) To greet informally, especially by saying "howdy"
2016, Brynn Bonner, Dead in a Flash, page 249:I stood up for the kid and it got ugly, with accusations being thrown in both directions. So the sheriff and I weren't exactly on howdying terms when that fire happened.
Etymology 2
Unknown
Noun
howdy (plural howdies)
- (Scotland) A wife.
- (Scotland) A midwife.
1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume I, Edinburgh: [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, pages 121–122:It's a beautiful point of presumptive murder, and there's been nane like it in the Justiciar Court since the case of Luckie Smith the howdie, that suffered in the year saxteen hundred and seventy-nine.