different between cooee vs cooeed

English

Alternative forms

• cooey
• coo-ee

Etymology

From Dharug guuu-wi adopted into English by white settlers in Australia from 1790.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ko?o'?, IPA^(key): /?ku?i?/

• In making the call, the first syllable may be quite elongated; the second is relatively short.

Noun

cooee (plural cooees)

1. (Australia, informal, onomatopoeia) A long, loud call used to attract attention when at a distance, mainly done in the Australian bush.

   • I listen.

     No cooee come back.

   • 2006, Saskia Beudel, Walking: West MacDonnell Ranges 2002, in Drusilla Modjeska, The Best Australian Essays 2006, page 309,

     Just as I was preparing to write in my exercise book, I heard a cooee. Cooees were not part of the code.

2. (Australia, informal, with "within", also figuratively) A short distance; hailing distance.

Translations

Verb

cooee (third-person singular simple present cooees, present participle cooeeing, simple past and past participle cooeed)

1. (intransitive, Australia, informal) To make such a call.
   • 2001, Robert Holden, Nicholas Holden, Bunyips: Australia's Folklore of Fear, page 65,

     ‘Look out for snakes,’ said Long Charlie, flourishing his lantern. ‘And don?t all of us be coo-eeing all the time, or when the little chap sings out we shan't be able to hear him.’

   • 2006, Saskia Beudel, Walking: West MacDonnell Ranges 2002, in Drusilla Modjeska, The Best Australian Essays 2006, page 310,

     I cooeed back. Another cooee came in what seemed to be a reply. I cooeed again.

Translations

Interjection

cooee

1. (informal, chiefly Australia, Britain) Used to attract someone's attention.

   Cooee! I'm over here!

   • 1894, Temple Bar, Volume 183, page 587,

     Then, raising her hands to her lips she utters a long, loud, piercing " Cooee ! "

     " Coo — ee ! " comes back over the black waters.

   • 2001, June E. Barker, First Platypus, Gaygar—The Little Mother Duck, in Helen F. McKay (editor), Pauline E. McLeod, Francis Firebrace Jones, June E. Barker, Gadi Mirrabooka: Australian Aboriginal Tales from the Dreaming, page 58,

     Gaygar could hear her people cooee out to her, "COOEE, GAYGAR! COOEE, GAYGAR!" they would cry.

Synonyms

• ahoy! (nautical), hey!, oi! (impolite), yoohoo!; see also Thesaurus:hey

References

English

Verb

cooeed

1. simple past tense and past participle of cooee