/ˈkuːʷiː/
OriginBorrowed from Dharug guuu-wi, adopted into English by white settlers in Australia from 1790.
- Australia, informal, onomatopoeicA long, loud call used to attract attention when at a distance, mainly done in the Australian bush.
“Then they heard in the distance the "coo-ee" of a white man, which was instantly answered by another "coo-ee".”
“I call out, “Coo-ee” with long Coo and short ee like whip-bird call. Everybody in my mob know my cooee. Any one of my mob hear that, they give me cooee back.
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. Cooee”
- Australia, also, figuratively, informalA short distance; hailing distance.
“That is not within cooee of 10 per cent; it is much closer to six per cent.”
“We were carless, in the dark, and no one to help within cooee.”
- Australia, informal, intransitiveTo make such a call.
“‘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.’”
“Slipping out of the tail of the dray, I cooeed as loud as I could which was answered.”
“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 aga”
- Australia, UK, informalUsed to attract someone's attention.
“Cooee! I'm over here!”
“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 Tale”
- A town in Burnie City Council, north western Tasmania, Australia.
Formscooees(plural) · cooey(alternative) · coo-ee(alternative) · cooees(present, singular, third-person) · cooeeing(participle, present) · cooeed(participle, past) · cooeed(past)