Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
yahoo. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
yahoo, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
yahoo in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
yahoo you have here. The definition of the word
yahoo will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
yahoo, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology 1
From Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, where Yahoo is the name of a race of brutes.
Pronunciation
Noun
yahoo (plural yahoos)
- (derogatory) A rough, coarse, loud or uncouth individual.
- (cryptozoology) A humanoid cryptid said to exist in parts of eastern Australia, and also reported in the Bahamas.
- 1835, James Holman, Travels, quoted by Malcolm Smith, Bunyips and Bigfoots (Millennium Books, 1996, →ISBN), who notes that the Australian sense almost certainly derives from Gulliver's Travels, despite Holman's report
- The natives are greatly terrrified by the sight of a person in a mask calling him "devil" or Yah-hoo, which signifies evil spirit.
1985, Michael Raynal, Yahoos in the Bahamas: Cryptozoology, volume 4:
Synonyms
- (a rough, coarse, or uncouth person): yokel, lout
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
Expressive.
Pronunciation
Interjection
yahoo
- An exclamation of joy or enjoyment.
1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 521:"Yahoooooo! Give her some stick!"
- A battle cry.
Translations
Verb
yahoo (third-person singular simple present yahoos, present participle yahooing, simple past and past participle yahooed)
- (transitive, intransitive, informal) To give a cry of yahoo.
Etymology 3
From Yahoo!.
Alternative forms
Verb
yahoo (third-person singular simple present yahoos, present participle yahooing, simple past and past participle yahooed)
- (Internet, informal, transitive, intransitive) To search using the Yahoo! search engine.
2007, Tell:Ah! You mean you have been 'yahooing'? I'm dead!
2008, Frederick Thomas, Buddha's Bones, Buddha's Bones, →ISBN, page 46:I searched, Yahooed, Googled and everything else I could.
2017, Rajendra Pillai, Unearthed: Discover Life as God's Masterpiece, New Hope Publishers, →ISBN:In other words, none of our googling and yahooing is private (you knew that, right ?).
References
Anagrams