Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A loud cry of exultation or excitement.
  • noun A shout uttered by a hunter or warrior.
  • noun A hooting cry, as of a bird.
  • noun The paroxysmal gasp characteristic of whooping cough.
  • intransitive verb To utter a loud shout or cry. synonym: yell.
  • intransitive verb To utter a hooting cry.
  • intransitive verb To make the paroxysmal gasp characteristic of whooping cough.
  • intransitive verb To utter with a whoop.
  • intransitive verb To chase, call, urge on, or drive with a whoop.
  • idiom (whoop it up) To have a jolly, noisy celebration.
  • idiom (whoop it up) To express or arouse enthusiasm; cheer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To shout with a loud voice; cry out loudly, as in excitement, or in calling to some one; halloo; shout; also, to hoot, as an owl.
  • In medicine, to make a sonorous inspiration, as that following the paroxysm of coughing in whooping-cough.
  • To hoot at; insult or deride with shouts or hooting; drive or follow with shouts or outcry.
  • To call or signal to by a shout or whoop.
  • Ho! hallo!
  • noun A whooping or hooting cry, like that of the crane; a loud call or shout; a cry designed to attract the attention of a person at a distance, or to express excitement, encouragement, enthusiasm, vengeance, or terror.
  • noun In medicine, the peculiar sonorous inspiration following the attack of coughing in whoopingcough.
  • noun Same as hoop for hoopoe.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) The hoopoe.
  • transitive verb To insult with shouts; to chase with derision.
  • noun A shout of pursuit or of war; a very of eagerness, enthusiasm, enjoyment, vengeance, terror, or the like; an halloo; a hoot, or cry, as of an owl.
  • noun A loud, shrill, prolonged sound or sonorous inspiration, as in whooping cough.
  • intransitive verb To utter a whoop, or loud cry, as eagerness, enthusiasm, or enjoyment; to cry out; to shout; to halloo; to utter a war whoop; to hoot, as an owl.
  • intransitive verb To cough or breathe with a sonorous inspiration, as in whooping cough.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An exclamation, a cry, usually of joy.
  • noun A gasp, characteristic of whooping cough.
  • noun A bump on a racetrack.
  • verb intransitive To make a whoop.
  • verb transitive, informal To beat, to strike.
  • verb transitive, informal To defeat thoroughly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cough spasmodically
  • noun a loud hooting cry of exultation or excitement
  • verb shout, as if with joy or enthusiasm

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English whopen, to whoop, variant of hopen, from Old French hopper, of imitative origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English whopen, whowpen, howpen, houpen ("to whoop, cry out"), partially from Old French houper, hopper, houpper ("to shout"), of uncertain origin (compare Old Norse ópa ("to cry, scream, shout"), Gothic  (wōpjan, "to crow as a cock"), Gothic  (hwōpjan, "to boast"), Old English hwōpan ("to threaten")); and partially from Middle English wop ("weeping, lamentation"), from Old English wōp ("cry, outcry, shrieking, weeping, lamentation"), see woop.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Corruption of whip.

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Examples

  • Haven't heard the term whoop-ass for about 7 years, and even then it was a joke...

    Two More Transformers 2 TV Spots and English Language Wheelie Clip | /Film 2009

  • The "whoop" comes from the sharp intake of breath following a series of exhausting, oxygen-depleting coughs.

    Whooping cough makes a comeback Arthur Allen 2010

  • The "whoop" comes from the sharp intake of breath following a series of exhausting, oxygen-depleting coughs.

    Whooping cough makes a comeback Arthur Allen 2010

  • The high-pitched whoop is a symptom heard mainly in younger children; it's the sound of a desperate attempt to breathe.

    Bucking the Herd 2002

  • The high-pitched whoop is a symptom heard mainly in younger children; it's the sound of a desperate attempt to breathe.

    Bucking the Herd 2002

  • It puts out a down-swept signal, a sort of a "whoop" - type sound and it repeats it constantly on a couple of different frequencies, and they are both emergency guard frequencies that both the military and civilian pilots, airliners all listen to.

    CNN Transcript - Breaking News: Nine Injured, One Dead Found Off Key West Coast - September 19, 2000 2000

  • Duvall has an uncanny ear for the Pentecostal preaching cadence - including the "whoop" - which is unusual since he was raised a Christian Scientist, where services are about as flamboyant as a toaster oven.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • Duvall has an uncanny ear for the Pentecostal preaching cadence - including the "whoop" - which is unusual since he was raised a Christian Scientist, where services are about as flamboyant as a toaster oven.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • Black preachers who 'whoop' -- minstrels or ministers?

    CNN.com 2010

  • Duvall has an uncanny ear for the Pentecostal preaching cadence - including the "whoop" - which is unusual since he was raised a Christian Scientist, where services are about as flamboyant as a toaster oven.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

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