hey

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“
He might be able to walk into a bar anywhere outside of Philly -- hey, they're diehards there -- and nobody would know him, but Johnson's work is well known in NFL circles.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. interjection Used to attract attention or to express surprise, appreciation, wonder, or pleasure.
  2. Regional Note
    Traditionally, hey was just an exclamation. Sometimes it expressed delight, sometimes a warning. Nowadays we find it used for emphasis as well, especially in the expression but hey. It is also a greeting. It is a short, colloquial version of How are you? and thus close kin to the informal salutation hi, which it seems to be replacing in many situations. Until recently, this greeting had a distinctly Southern flavor. The national survey conducted in the 1960s by the Dictionary of American Regional English found hey as a greeting restricted chiefly to Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The friendly hey has since spread throughout the United States.

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Examples (50)

  • This month's offerings have turned out to be more intellectual than usual--hey, the issue comes complete with footnotes. —  F ;SF - vol 101 issue 02 - August 2001
  • He might be able to walk into a bar anywhere outside of Philly -- hey, they're diehards there -- and nobody would know him, but Johnson's work is well known in NFL circles. —  Sports News : CBSSports.com
  • He's still hailing "52 months of economic growth" -- hey, the business cycle will cycle up even under a bad president -- despite the statistics proving that —  Philly.com - Latest Videos
  • You know I have a short atten - hey, a squirrel! he hee hee … —  Royals Review
  • "Porky" Palin - hey, as it turns out, that pig does wear lipstick …. wow!!! —  CTV News RSS Feed
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Words tagged hey

apartheid · logorrheic · techno-klutz · anodyne · gordian knot · odor of sanctity · dutch uncle · elbow grease · foot-in-mouth disease · get religion · smoke signals

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Stats

This word has been looked up 113 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also hay; from Middle English hey, hay = Dutchhei = German hei = Danish Swedish hej, interjection Cf. heigh, ha, ho.
 

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/hei/
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