yahoo

¹ American  

[yah-hoo] / ˈyɑˈhu /

interjection

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

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Yahoo ² American  

[yah-hoo, yey-, yah-hoo] / ˈyɑ hu, ˈyeɪ-, yɑˈhu /

noun

plural

Yahoos

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

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

3. (lowercase) a coarse or brutish person.

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yahoo British  

/ jəˈhuː /

noun

1. a crude, brutish, or obscenely coarse person

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Other Word Forms

• yahooism noun

Etymology

Origin of yahoo¹

First recorded in 1975–80; of imitative origin

Origin of Yahoo²

Coined by Swift in Gulliver's Travels (1726)

Example Sentences

“Some yahoo pulled up to the wrong gate. There’s not supposed to be anyone at that gate until the Cleveland flight at nine thirty.”

From Literature

Regular soldiers looked down on General Hamdan and his paramilitaries as a motley crew — “a bunch of jumped-up yahoos from the sticks, not proper military men,” as one Western ambassador put it.

From New York Times

Mr. Carafano added that the United States “looks like yahoos in front of our friends and allies” because of the breadth of information that has come into public view as a result of the leak.

From Washington Times

“One of the guys came up with that ‘yahoo!’”

From New York Times

But painting a state as yahoos and Holocaust deniers for rejecting cursing or nudity in one book epitomizes the very stereotype we people who study the Holocaust should always abhor.

From New York Times