Whoa
/woʊ/ intj, verb
intj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying "whoa". transitive
"He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual—in fact, they were galloping."
Intj
- 1 Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.
"Whoa, Nelly!"
- 2 An expression of surprise.
"Whoa, are you serious?"
- 3 Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics.
"I am the type who is liable to snipe you With two seconds left to go, whoa."
Example
More examples""Mmmmn ... maybe I'll have a hair of the dog." "Whoa, hold up a mo! Here, I cooked roast fish for this morning. You ought to be able to eat this OK.""
Etymology
Whoa (c. 1843) is a variant of woa (c. 1840), itself a variant of wo (c. 1787), from who (c. 1450), ultimately from Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare German ho, Old French ho ! (“hold!, halt!”).