shoo
Americaninterjection
verb (used with object)
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to drive away by saying or shouting “shoo.”
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to request or force (a person) to leave.
I'll have to shoo you out of here now.
verb (used without object)
interjection
verb
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(tr) to drive away by or as if by crying "shoo."
-
(intr) to cry "shoo."
Etymology
Origin of shoo
1475–85; earlier showe, shough, shooh, ssou (interjection), imitative; compare German schu
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
First a dung cart rolled down the block, pulled by a scrawny brown horse that kept twitching its muscles to shoo the flies off its back.
From Literature
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The teachers start trying to shoo everyone to their buses and waiting parents, but they’re all checking their phones, wanting to read the words for themselves.
From Literature
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Reluctantly, the children shooed the birds back toward the chicken coop.
From Literature
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Penelope’s scalp was already sweaty beneath her pith helmet, and she found herself shooing away imaginary gnats.
From Literature
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In some cases, residents have tried to shoo away dogs from feeding spots to discourage people from providing them food.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.