Word
shoo
US/ˈʃu/
UK/ʃˈuː/
Definition
v. to make a person or animal leave a place, often by waving your hands or making a noise.
v. to drive away a person or animal by making a 'shoo' sound or using dismissive hand gestures.
Examples
“Shoo the cat away from the table.”
“The children were told to shoo the birds from the garden before they could eat their lunch.”
“The gardener had to shoo several curious squirrels away from the newly planted seedlings to prevent them from damaging the roots.”
Examples
simple
“Shoo the cat away from the table.”
contextual
“The children were told to shoo the birds from the garden before they could eat their lunch.”
complex
“The gardener had to shoo several curious squirrels away from the newly planted seedlings to prevent them from damaging the roots.”
Usage
Often used with the particle 'away'.
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/shoo