Shoo
intj, pron, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 To induce someone or something to leave. informal, transitive
"Don't just shoo away mosquitoes, kill them!"
- 2 drive away by crying ‘shoo!’ wordnet
- 3 To leave under inducement. informal, intransitive
"You kids had better shoo before your parents get a call."
- 4 To usher someone. informal, rare
"Shoo the visitor in."
- 1 Go away! Clear off! informal
"Shoo, fly, don't bother me!"
- 1 Alternative form of she. Yorkshire, alt-of, alternative
"Hearken, hearken, shoo’s cursing on em!” muttered Joseph, towards whom I had been steering."
Example
More examples"Don't shoo me as though I were a dog."
Etymology
From Middle English schew, schowe, show, showe, scou (“shoo!”, interjection). Compare Middle High German schū, schuo (“shoo!”, interjection) (modern German scheu! (“shoo!”)), Dutch schuwen (“to shun”), German scheuchen (“to scare, drive away”).
From Middle English scho, sheo, scheo, sȝheo, from Old English hēo (“she”). More at she.
Related phrases
More for "shoo"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.