hallo

[huh-loh]

interjection

(used to call or answer someone, or to incite dogs in hunting.)

noun, plural hal·los.

the cry “hallo!”

a shout of exultation.

verb (used without object), hal·loed, hal·lo·ing.

to call with a loud voice; shout; cry, as after hunting dogs.

verb (used with object), hal·loed, hal·lo·ing.

to incite or chase (something) with shouts and cries of “hallo!”

to cry “hallo” to (someone).

to shout (something).

Also halloa, halloo, hallow, hillo, hilloa, hullo, hulloo.

Origin of hallo

1560–70; variant of hollo, itself variant of earlier holla < Middle French hola, equivalent to ho ahoy + la there

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hallo

Historical Examples of hallo

Somebody told Mr. Dewey who was coming, and he was just ready to say, "Hallo, Tip!"
Tip Lewis and His Lamp
Pansy
It so happened that Sandoz, who had turned round, said to Claude: 'Hallo!
His Masterpiece
Emile Zola
Hallo, boy, did you see a rabbit cross the road there just now?
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;
Various
“Hallo,” he exclaimed; only he could not stop a moment to ask if she was hurt.
Chance
Joseph Conrad
She heard Harry Hagberd say, "Hallo, dad," then a clanging clatter.
To-morrow
Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for hallo

hallo

sentence substitute, noun

a variant spelling of hello

sentence substitute, noun, verb

a variant spelling of halloo

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hallo

shout to call attention, 1781, earlier hollo, holla (see hello). Halow as a shipman's cry to incite effort is from mid-15c.; Halloo as a verb, "to pursue with shouts, to shout in the chase," from late 14c. Cf. also harou, cry of distress, late 13c., from French.