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moof. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
moof, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
moof in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology 1
Blend of moo (“lowing sound of a cow”) + woof (“barking sound of a dog”). Coined by American computer programmer Mark Harlan in 1987 or 1988 in internal memoranda within Apple Computer. First publicly attested in 1989. Trademarked by Apple from 1992 to 1999 (U.S. Reg. No. 1,695,826).
Pronunciation
Interjection
moof
- (onomatopoeia, usually computing, humorous) Used to indicate the lowing or barking sound of a dogcow or similar chimeric creature.
1989 April, Mark Harlan, “The Dogcow”, in Machintosh Technical Notes, number 31, Cupertino, California: Apple Computer, archived from the original on 2 February 2004:Upon closer examination, I discovered that dogcows actually "speak." In a very excited condition, like being near an open can of Mountain Dew, dogcows will say "Boo Woo! Moof!" But it is much more common to hear them just say, "Moof!"
1995, Michael A. Hemmingson, Nice Little Stories Jam-Packed with Depraved Sex & Violence, Denver: CyberPsychos AOD, →ISBN, page 23:“And won’t you just cry out and beg for mercy? You know, Alisha dear,” warm breath on him, “I used to think he was just a dog, and then I thought he was a cow, but I think—I know—he’s just a cross between both, a cow and a dog. Cows go moo, dogs go woof, so what does a dogcow go? Moof moof moof. Go moof, Chuck, go moof.”
1998 September 3, David Morgenstein, “BMUG Report: The Cupertino Shuffle”, in MicroTimes, volume 7, number 9, Oakland, California: BAM Publications, page 178:Everyone knew where the hackers were sitting when they started yelling “Moof! moof!” at the screen—“moof” is the sound the LaserWriter Options dogcow makes.
1998 October 29, Bob LeVitus, “The tail of the dogcow”, in Mac OS 8.5 For Dummies, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, →ISBN, page 162:His name, they say, is Clarus. His bark, they say, is Moof.
2001 June 29, David Pogue, Joseph Schorr, “The inevitable Dogcow sidebar”, in Macworld? Mac? Secrets?, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, →ISBN, page 1040:You can predict, we bet, the sound she makes: Moof! (Yes, the Dogcow is a she—as is every cow. Otherwise, she would be a dogbull.
2007 March 1, Holly Haggarty, Summer Dragons, Toronto: Dundurn Press, →ISBN, page 99:“But it has ten legs and goes ‘moof-moof’,” Eddie joked.
2009 May 11, Heather McHugh, “Hackers Can Sidejack Cookies”, in The New Yorker, volume 85, number 13, New York City, retrieved 12 April 2025:
Etymology 2
Noun
moof (plural moofs)
- (slang) A bong (vessel for smoking marijuana).
2014, Frank B. Thompson, III, WTF!: This is a Liberal Utopia!:What was thought to be smoke coming from a badly tuned engine was in reality a pot burning moof!
References
- ^ Harlan, Mark (March 1994) “History of the Dogcow, Part 1”, in Apple Developer Connection, Cupertino, California: Apple Computer, archived from the original on 1 February 2004
- ^ Harlan, Mark (April 1989) “The Dogcow”, in Machintosh Technical Notes, number 31, Cupertino, California: Apple Computer, archived from the original on 2 February 2004
- ^ Linzmayer, Owen W. (1994) The Mac Bathroom Reader, Alameda, California: Sybex, →ISBN, page 222: “For the ‘Moof!’ sound we took a real cow and then Zz said ‘fff’ into a MacRecorder; the ‘Foom!’ is just the same sound played backwards.”
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