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woo

verb
/wuː/

Etymology

From Middle English wowen, woȝen, from Old English wōgian (“to woo, court, marry”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots wow (“to woo”). Perhaps related to Old English wōg, wōh (“bending, crookedness”), in the specific sense of "bend or incline (some)one toward oneself". If so, then derived from Proto-Germanic *wanhō (“a bend, angle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wonk- (“crooked, bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *wā- (“to bend, twist, turn”); related to Old Norse vá (“corner, angle”).

  1. derived from *wā-✻ — “to bend, twist, turn”
  2. derived from *wonk-✻ — “crooked, bent”
  3. derived from *wanhō✻ — “a bend, angle”
  4. inherited from wōgian — “to woo, court, marry”
  5. inherited from wowen

Definitions

  1. To endeavor to gain someone's affection or support.

    • They're trying to woo the customers back with this new mobile plan.
    • Behind this carefully crafted strategy of wooing Trump is a desire from Gulf states to solidify and formalize their positions as the US’ indispensable security and economic partners, and extract as much benefit for themselves as they can.
    • He [Mark Zuckerberg] wanted to start an AI unit at Facebook, and to woo [Yann] LeCun [he] invited him over for dinner at his California home. A private chef prepared “chicken with some pretty good white wine”, LeCun recalls.

  2. Often of a man, to try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with.

    • I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]
    • Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought.

  3. To court solicitously

    To court solicitously; to invite with importunity; to solicit in love.

    • Thee Chauntreſs oft the Woods among, / I woo to hear thy eeven Song;
    • I woo the wind / That still delays his coming.
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. Alternative spelling of whoo, expressing joy or excitement.

      • "I got you a new cell phone." "Woo, that's great!"

    2. Alternative form of woo woo.

    3. A surname from Chinese.

    4. A surname from Korean.

The neighborhood

Derived

pitch woo, wooer

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at woo. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01woo02persuade03urge04persuasion05beliefs06belief07faith08intentions

A definitional loop anchored at woo. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at woo

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA