woo

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   seek someone's favor

   China is wooing Russia

2. 2
   verb

   To endeavor to gain someone's affection or support.

   They're trying to woo the customers back with this new mobile plan.

3. 3
   verb

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

   Soo leue we syr Launcelot lyenge within that caue in grete payne / and euery day ther came a lady & brouȝt hym his mete & his drynke / & wowed hym to haue layne by hym / and euer the noble knyghte syre Launcelot sayd her nay. "So leave we Sir Launcelot lying within that cave in great pain; and every day there came a lady and brought him his meat and his drink, and wooed him, to have lain by him; and ever the noble knight, Sir Launcelot, said her nay."

4. 4
   verb

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

   Thee Chauntreſs oft the Woods among, / I woo to hear thy eeven Song;

5. 5
   intj

   Alternative spelling of whoo, expressing joy or excitement.

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

6. 6
   noun

   Alternative form of woo woo.

   Physics hasn't been "looking" at it, certain men who embrace the Copenhagen Interpretation rather than Many Worlds or the Pilot Wave angles are resorting to woo.

7. 7
   verb

   make amorous advances towards

8. 8
   adj

   Alternative form of woo woo.

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”).