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."
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(intr) to cry "shoo."
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.
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
A waitress told Hannah the pigeon had been inside the pub but people had been kicking her, so the waitress had to shoo the pigeon out to protect it.
From BBC • May 25, 2024
“I’m the kind of person who, if I see a fly, I’ll kindly shoo it out the window.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2023
Tillman has enough arrogance to shoo the agents away, but Ole Munch and Dot herself are still in the wind, which makes him a target, too.
From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2023
He chased the mother away with a broom, then kept trying to shoo the baby in the other direction.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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.
