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."
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shoosimple
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shoossimple
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have shooedperfect
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has shooedperfect
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am shooingprogressive
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are shooingprogressive
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is shooingprogressive
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have been shooingperfect progressive
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has been shooingperfect progressive
Past
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shooedsimple
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had shooedperfect
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was shooingprogressive
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were shooingprogressive
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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:
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
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
I expected Big Ma to shoo Fern off to play.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Chewbacca shoos the Porgs away so he can eat in peace.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2024
She shoos the thoughts away, like mosquitoes at dusk.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2021
The guard occasionally shoos patrons away because it's a restricted area.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 8, 2019
The softly spoken Cash, the chief clinical officer, has been sitting quietly in the corner of the cabin, and now she shoos the group off to complete chores before lunch.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 16, 2017
Brown curls wave about her face as she shoos me to the door.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
He’d force himself into the kitchen, cooking orders before he was shooed away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
The man disappeared around a corner as security guards shooed the lawyer back to another room.
From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2025
After taking a few laps of the gore, it gets shooed away.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2024
Two officers arrived a short time later and shooed the owl away by shining a flashlight in its eyes, Aaron said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
Bored, he shooed away a few small chickadees.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
For over a month, the large, antlered visitor to Goodman Mountain has resisted all attempts at shooing him away or relocating him.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2025
He shouted out his words, not at all the joyful warrior of Harris-Walz fashion, but more like a cranky old man shooing kids off his lawn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024
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
"Has nobody been on the shooing course. I cannot believe you closed the entire Elizabeth line for a swan on the tracks," they added.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2023
“Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now,” he said, shooing some of the younger students away.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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.
