Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

hallo

[huh-loh]
See more synonyms for hallo on Thesaurus.com
interjection
  1. (used to call or answer someone, or to incite dogs in hunting.)
Show More
noun, plural hal·los.
  1. the cry “hallo!”
  2. a shout of exultation.
Show More
verb (used without object), hal·loed, hal·lo·ing.
  1. to call with a loud voice; shout; cry, as after hunting dogs.
Show More
verb (used with object), hal·loed, hal·lo·ing.
  1. to incite or chase (something) with shouts and cries of “hallo!”
  2. to cry “hallo” to (someone).
  3. to shout (something).
Show More
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. 2018

Examples from the Web for hallo

Historical Examples

  • 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?

  • “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
  1. a variant spelling of hello
Show More
sentence substitute, noun, verb
  1. a variant spelling of halloo
Show More
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.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper