WOO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does woo mean? 

• WOO (verb)
  The verb WOO has 2 senses:

1. seek someone's favor

2. make amorous advances towards

  Familiarity information: WOO used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WOO (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they woo    ... he / she / it woos   
Past simple: wooed   
Past participle: wooed   
-ing form: wooing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Seek someone's favor

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

court; woo

Context example:

China is wooing Russia

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

wooer (a man who courts a woman)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make amorous advances towards

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

court; romance; solicit; woo

Context example:

John is courting Mary

Hypernyms (to "woo" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "woo"):

chase; chase after (pursue someone sexually or romantically)

display (attract attention by displaying some body part or posing; of animals)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot woo Sue

Derivation:

wooer (a man who courts a woman)

wooing (a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage))

 Context examples 

Soon afterwards there was another knock, and another fox was at the door who wished to woo Mrs Fox.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mr. Barkis's wooing, as I remember it, was altogether of a peculiar kind.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

His second wooing, he resolved, should be as calm and simple as possible.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Yet it was right here, in his reticence, that the strength of his wooing lay.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Half his destiny would then be determined, but the other half might not be so very smoothly wooed.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

They might have fought, but even wooing and its rivalry waited upon the more pressing hunger-need of the pack.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

There were men who said that of all the stern passages and daring deeds by which Sir Nigel Loring had proved the true temper of his courage, not the least was his wooing and winning of so forbidding a dame.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ah, Watson, said Holmes, smiling, perhaps you would not be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The maid replied: “Do just tell her, miss, that a young fox is here, who would like to woo her.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was in this old, primitive way that Martin wooed Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)