Yahoo

See also: yahoo and Yahoo!

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑːhuː/

Etymology 1

Coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. According to the Century Dictionary, "[a] made name, prob[ably] meant to suggest disgust".

Noun

Yahoo (plural Yahoos)

1. (fiction) One of a race of brutes, who look and act similar to men, inhabiting the same land as the civilized Houyhnhnms.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), pages 271–272:

     I therefore often begged his Favour to let me go among the Herds of Yahoos in the Neighbourhood, to which he always very graciouſly conſented, being perfectly convinced, that the Hatred I bore thoſe Brutes, would never ſuffer me to be corrupted by them; […]

Derived terms

• yahoo

Etymology 2

From the company name Yahoo!; see more on origin there.

Noun

Yahoo (plural Yahoos)

1. (informal) An employee of the Internet company Yahoo!.
   • 1996, Newsweek, volume 127:

     But having two beaming Chief Yahoos on the cover is an implied seal of approval.

   • 2002, Karen Angel, Inside Yahoo!: reinvention and the road ahead:

     Instead of driving down the street to meetings, soon Yahoos need merely stroll the walkways that crisscrossed a bright green lawn.

   • 2004, Chris Turner, Planet Simpson: how a cartoon masterpiece defined a generation:

     Some Yahoos got filthy rich, but many more lost it all.

Verb

Yahoo (third-person singular simple present Yahoos, present participle Yahooing, simple past and past participle Yahooed)

1. Alternative letter-case form of yahoo
   • 2007, Linda O. Johnston, The Fright of the Iguana, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 29:

     I watched as she Googled, Yahooed, Asked, and used a couple of search engines I’d never heard of.

   • 2008 July 16, David Gratzer, “Statement of David Gratzer, M.D., Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research”, in Getting Better Value in Health Care: Hearing Before the Committee on the Budget House of Representatives; […] (Serial No. 110–37), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 23:

     We are not super-tech-savvy people because we would have Googled, I suspect, but we Yahooed, and the top 10 sites were pornographic.

   • 2014, Ellen J. Prager, “Behind the Jungle Wall”, in The Shark Whisperer, Minneapolis, Minn.: Scarletta Junior Readers, →ISBN, page 12:

     He Googled, Binged, and Yahooed sharks, shark life, shark types, shark history, shark food, and anything else shark-related.

Anagrams

• ooyah