different between oooh vs pooh

English

Interjection

oooh

1. Elongated form of ooh.

Verb

oooh (third-person singular simple present ooohs, present participle ooohing, simple past and past participle ooohed)

1. Elongated form of ooh.

English

Alternative forms

• poo
• (obsolete): puh, poogh, pugh

Etymology

Originally onomatopoeic for a puff of air, after earlier poh and similar to later pew, phew, pho, phoo, poof. Later influenced by poop, onomatopoeic for the sound of flatulating and defecating, and by interjections of disgust similar to phew, pee-ew.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /phu?/, /pu?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pu/

Interjection

pooh

1. Expressing dismissal, contempt, impatience, etc.
   • 1600, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humor, iii, i, sig. iii:

     I am carelesse what the fustie World speakes of me, puh.

   • 1694, William Congreve, Double-Dealer, I, i, 2:

     Pooh, ha, ha, ha, I know you envy me.

2. Expressing disgust at an unpleasant smell.
3. (euphemistic) Alternative form of poo: a minced oath for 'shit'.
   • 1992 July 22, Time, page 55:

     Mom offers everybody fudge and says ‘Oh, pooh!’ when she gets upset.

Synonyms

• (expressing contempt): pht, feh, meh, pshaw, pish, bah, poh; see also Thesaurus:bah
• (expressing disgust at a smell): bleah, eww, ick, uck; see also Thesaurus:yuck

Derived terms

• pooh-bah, poobah, pooh-pooh

Noun

pooh (countable and uncountable, plural poohs)

1. (countable) An instance of saying "pooh".
   • 1818, Lord Byron, Beppo, canto vii, l. 4:

     A thing which causes many ‘poohs’ and ‘pishes’.

2. (uncountable, childish) Alternative form of poo: feces.
3. (countable, chiefly Britain, childish) Alternative form of poo: A piece of feces; an act of defecation.

Verb

pooh (third-person singular simple present poohs, present participle poohing, simple past and past participle poohed)

1. (intransitive) To say "pooh".
   • 1614, John Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses, L4:

     The wrimouth'd Crittick...
     That mewes, and puh's and shakes his brainelesse head...

   • 1798, Charlotte Smith, The Young Philosopher, Vol. I, page 44:

     The Doctor... pshaw'd and pooh'd for some time.

2. (transitive) To say "pooh" to.
3. (intransitive, childish) Alternative form of poo: To defecate or dirty something with feces.
   • 1989 April 1, Crisis, page 19:

     My cat poohed in here.

   • 2003 March 13, The Sun:

     We all know what happened to them—they... poohed their pants.

Synonyms

• (all): pooh-pooh

References

• “pooh, n. and int.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006
• “pooh, v.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2006

Anagrams

• Hoop, hoop, ooph, phoo