heigh-ho

[hahy-hoh, hey-]

interjection

(an exclamation of surprise, exultation, melancholy, boredom, or weariness.)

Origin of heigh-ho

First recorded in 1545–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for heigh-ho

Historical Examples of heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, it makes me sigh to think there are so few children in 1853.
Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends
Fanny Fern
Heigh-ho for hard work, and lodgings at fifteen shillings a week!
The Independence of Claire
Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
Well, you are very young, and I want to keep you still a boy; but, heigh-ho!
In Honour's Cause
George Manville Fenn
Here is a whole cargo of silks and laces just sent in to me—Heigh-ho!
Memoirs of Miss Sidney Biddulph
Frances Sheridan
He rode to prove his prowess / in many a land around: Heigh-ho!
The Nibelungenlied
Unknown

British Dictionary definitions for heigh-ho

heigh-ho

interjection

a variant spelling of hey-ho

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 heigh-ho

1550s, exclamation to express yawning, sighing, etc.