hooroo

English

Alternative forms

• (goodbye): ooroo

Etymology

From 1700s British hooray or hurray, which was also used in Australia to mean goodbye.

Pronunciation

• (hooray): IPA^(key): /həˈɹuː/
• (goodbye): IPA^(key): /ˈhuːɹuː/

• Audio (General Australian):

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Interjection

hooroo

1. Hooray. [From 1700s.]
   • 1886, The Yale Courant, volume 22, number 11, page 149:

     Placing it triumphantly on the mahogany desk before him, he exclaims — “Hooroo ! Ho-ooo-roo-ooo ! in a husky voice, and sinks exhausted on a satin divan. “What′s the row, Hiram?” all cry, gathering eagerly about him. “Hooroo! I′m a rich man! I′ve got my patent!”

   • 1901—02, Herminie Templeton Kavanagh, Darby O'Gill and the Good People, McClure's Magazine, reprinted 1903, Reilly & Britton, page 80,

     Every brown cap was swung in the air. “Hooray! Hooray! Hooroo!” rang the cheers.

   • 1905, Report of the National Congress of Mothers: Held in the city of Washington, D. C., March 10-17, 1905, page 214:

     When the visiting school wins (and sometimes it does, you know), then in pure politeness he says: “Hooroo! hooroo!” but he only goes half-way round.

   • 1981, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Splinters, Rigby, page 182,

     ‘Hooroo! Hooroo! Hooroo!’ she shouted, tossing handfuls of instant confetti over their happy heads.

   • 1998, Theatre Record, Volume 18, Issues 18-26, page 1510,

     The audience is made to chorus “Hooray, hooray, we the common people say hooray“ and “Hooroo, hooroo, Plaid Cymru, hooroo” in celebration of the royal wedding, and is regaled with parish-panto Pooterisms galore.

2. (Australia, colloquial) Goodbye.
   • 1980, The Bulletin, volume 100, page 329:

     “I′d better be going. Hooroo.”
     “Hooroo.”

   • 2009, Peter Yeldham, A Distant Shore, Penguin Group, unnumbered page,

     ‘Hooroo.’ It had always been her inevitable parting word.

     ‘Hooroo, Mrs Wheatley. Don′t forget next week.’

   • 2011, Shirley May, Conversations with Teddy: A Child′s Journey of Survival with Her Teddy Bear, the Keeper of Secrets, Xlibris, page 47:

     ‘Hooroo, come again!’
     ‘Hooroo, we will.’

Verb

hooroo (third-person singular simple present hooroos, present participle hoorooing, simple past and past participle hoorooed)

1. To give a cheer of "hooroo".