shoo
Americaninterjection
verb (used with object)
-
shoos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shooed,
past participle, past
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shooing
present participle
-
to drive away by saying or shouting “shoo.”
-
to request or force (a person) to leave.
I'll have to shoo you out of here now.
verb (used without object)
-
shoos,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shooed,
past participle, past
-
shooing
present participle
interjection
verb
-
(tr) to drive away by or as if by crying "shoo."
-
(intr) to cry "shoo."
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shoosimple
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shoossimple
-
have shooedperfect
-
has shooedperfect
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am shooingprogressive
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are shooingprogressive
-
is shooingprogressive
-
have been shooingperfect progressive
-
has been shooingperfect progressive
Past
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shooedsimple
-
had shooedperfect
-
was shooingprogressive
-
were shooingprogressive
-
had been shooingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shoo
1475–85; earlier showe, shough, shooh, ssou (interjection), imitative; compare German schu
Vocabulary lists containing shoo
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.
See Examples For:
"I helped sort of shoo him onto the boat, because he was face down too... but the seven-year-old was not in a good way," said Bowe, who was helped by an unnamed man.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Numerous attempts to shoo them away, including Sampras batting his racquet at them, failed, and the match had to be suspended.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Harbor staff try to ease them along to the 42 floats built to accommodate the creatures and they use big wooden panels, called herding boards, to gently shoo them away from the boat docks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
If the Dodgers and starter Walker Buehler shoo away the pesky Padres one more time, the game will end with a dogpile on the mound and champagne in the clubhouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024
Despite our efforts to shoo them away, the local children spend hours staring at the bonobos and trying to get them to wake up.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
The agent shoos the boy away, but something in his expression, a kind of “animalistic anguish,” makes her uneasy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Chewbacca shoos the Porgs away so he can eat in peace.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2024
The guard occasionally shoos patrons away because it's a restricted area.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 8, 2019
Before she shoos the reporter out, she says: “I will only speak when my son is here. My son is more important to me than money. The media are making a mockery of my life.”
From The Guardian ● Feb. 24, 2017
“You won’t do it right. I have to do it,” she says and shoos me back inside.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
He never shooed them away from his canvases, they say, and they grew up hearing him speak about art for hours during museum visits and at art fairs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
I was shooed away by uniformed Secret Service agents.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
The man disappeared around a corner as security guards shooed the lawyer back to another room.
From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2025
And when the popular French band, Phoenix, played a mini-concert late in the program, athletes got so excited they rushed the stage and had to be shooed away by the public address announcer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2024
They hurried to the field, climbed onto their platforms, and shooed away what few birds had settled in the corn.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
Bernie Sanders replied incredulously, when I approached him outside a Senate elevator, before shooing me away.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Police were shooing everyone away from the high-rises as shards of glass were still falling out of broken windows.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Generally, the person who invited you to the party is responsible for connecting unfamiliar folks, but sometimes your host is uncorking bottles and shooing away mynah birds.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2023
The bears chomped on doughnut holes and other pastries, ignoring the banging on the side of the van that was aimed at shooing them away, Deano said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2023
“Get away, little boy!” said Kristen, waving her hand like she was shooing a fly.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
