yahoo

[ yah-hoo ]

/ ˈyɑˈhu /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR yahoo ON THESAURUS.COM

interjection

(an exclamation used to express joy, excitement, etc.)

Nearby words

yagi aerial, yagi antenna, yah, yahata, yahgan, yahoo, yahoos, yahrzeit, yahweh, yahwism, yahwist

Origin of yahoo

First recorded in 1975–80; of imitative origin

Definition for yahoo (2 of 2)

Yahoo

[ yah-hoo, yey-, yah-hoo ]

/ ˈyɑ hu, ˈyeɪ-, yɑˈhu /

noun, plural Ya·hoos.

(in Swift's Gulliver's Travels) one of a race of brutes, having the form and all the vices of humans, who are subject to the Houyhnhnms.

(lowercase) an uncultivated or boorish person; lout; philistine; yokel.

(lowercase) a coarse or brutish person.

Origin of Yahoo

coined by Swift in Gulliver's Travels (1726)

Related forms

ya·hoo·ism, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for yahoo

In 2005, when Alibaba was picking up momentum in its battle against eBay, Yahoo bought a 40 percent stake in the company.
Alibaba’s Dark Side: Censoring Customers|Brendon Hong|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
(Yahoo now refers to itself as a digital media company rather than a technology company).
Battle of the Upstarts: Houston vs. San Francisco Bay|Joel Kotkin|October 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Google and Yahoo are already among the largest media companies in the world.
Battle of the Upstarts: Houston vs. San Francisco Bay|Joel Kotkin|October 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Was it really, as I suspected, ordered on a whim by some yahoo who was deeply affected by a childhood encounter with Grave Digger?
Why Does My Kids’ Elementary School Need a Tank?|Andy Hinds|September 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Yahoo Recruits More Top Names: Yahoo was serious about the revamping.
Jonah Hill & Spike Jonze to Write Play For NYFW; Audrey Hepburn’s Granddaughter Makes Her Modeling Debut|The Fashion Beast Team|August 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
"We must look devilish serious—no grinning till the proper time," said Yahoo.
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)|Samuel Warren
"Yahoo" is commonly said to have been coined by Swift, but there is a possibility that it was in slang use in his day.
The Word Hoosier; John Finley|Jacob Piatt Dunn
Now a gentleman, he makes you think of Sidney; now a beast, of Swift's revolting Yahoo.
Library Notes|A. P. Russell
He thought that he and his fellow-creatures were Yahoos; and he thought a Yahoo a very agreeable kind of animal.
The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 2 (of 4)|Thomas Babington Macaulay
I don't guess they done a day's work with anything but their yahoo mouths in their dirty lives.
The Man in the Twilight|Ridgwell Cullum

British Dictionary definitions for yahoo

yahoo

/ (jəˈhuː) /

noun plural -hoos

a crude, brutish, or obscenely coarse person

Derived Forms

yahooism, noun

Word Origin for yahoo

C18: from the name of a race of brutish creatures resembling men in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726)

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