whoa
//wəʊ//
informalForms
- present (v1)
- whoa
- past (v2)
- whoaed
- past participle (v3)
- whoaed
- present participle
- whoaing
- 3rd person singular
- whoas
Definitions
1.To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying "whoa".
- He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual, in fact, they were galloping.
1.Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.
- I can see Mickie getting hot, I'm about to grab his arm, hold him back, say, Whoa, whoa, Mick, not here, it ain't worth it what happened inside just now.
- The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in. “Whoa now, just a minute,” said a club member, holding up his walking stick. “Just don’t start up them there stairs yet awhile.”
2.An expression of surprise.
- Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
3.Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2142
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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!”).