Hooting

[hoot] /hut/

verb (used without object)
1.
to cry out or shout, especially in disapproval or derision.
2.
to utter the cry characteristic of an owl.
3.
to utter a similar sound.
4.
Chiefly British. to blow a horn or whistle; toot.
verb (used with object)
5.
to assail with shouts of disapproval or derision:
The fans hooted the umpire.
6.
to drive out, off, or away by hooting.
7.
to express in hoots:
The crowd hooted its disagreement with the speaker.
noun
8.
the cry of an owl.
9.
any similar sound, as an inarticulate shout.
10.
a cry or shout, especially of disapproval or derision.
11.
British. a horn, siren, or whistle, especially a factory whistle.
12.
Informal. the least bit of concern, interest, or thought; trifle:
I don’t give a hoot.
13.
Slang. an extremely funny person, situation, or event:
Your mother’s a hoot when she tells about her escapades in boarding school.
/huːt/
noun
1.
the mournful wavering cry of some owls
2.
a similar sound, such as that of a train whistle
3.
a jeer of derision
4.
(informal) an amusing person or thing: the weekend was a hoot
5.
not give a hoot, not to care at all
verb
6.
(often foll by at) to jeer or yell (something) contemptuously (at someone)
7.
(transitive) to drive (political speakers, actors on stage, etc) off or away by hooting
8.
(intransitive) to make a hoot
9.
(intransitive) (Brit) to blow a horn
/huːt/
interjection
1.
an exclamation of impatience or dissatisfaction: a supposed Scotticism
/huːt/
noun
1.
(Austral & NZ) a slang word for money
v.

“to call or shout in disapproval or scorn,” c.1600, probably related to or from huten, “to shout, call out” (c.1200), probably ultimately imitative. First used of bird cries, especially that of the owl, mid-15c. Related: Hooted; hooting. As a noun from mid-15c. Meaning “a laugh, something funny” is first recorded 1942. Slang sense of “smallest amount or particle” (The hoot you don’t give when you don’t care) is from 1891.

“A dod blasted ole fool!” answered the captain, who, till now, had been merely an amused on-looker. “Ye know all this rumpus wont do nobuddy a hoot o’ good–not a hoot.” [“Alonge Traverse Shores,” Traverse City, Michigan, 1891]

Hooter in the same sense is from 1839.

HOOTER. Probably a corruption of iota. Common in New York in such phrases as “I don’t care a hooter for him.” “This note ain’t worth a hooter.” [John Russell Bartlett, “Dictionary of Americanisms,” 1877]

see: not give a damn (hoot)