woo
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: woos
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: wooing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: wooed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: wooed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: wo
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: wow
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: wowe
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To endeavor to gain someone's affection or support.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: They're trying to woo the customers back with this new mobile plan.
Behind this carefully crafted strategy of wooing Trump is a desire from Gulf states to solidify and formalize their positions as the US’ indispensable security and economic partners, and extract as much benefit for themselves as they can.
He [Mark Zuckerberg] wanted to start an AI unit at Facebook, and to woo [Yann] LeCun [he] invited him over for dinner at his California home. A private chef prepared “chicken with some pretty good white wine”, LeCun recalls.
gloss: Often of a man, to try to persuade (someone) to be in an amorous relationship with.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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."
I haue beene wooed, as I intreat thee now, / Euen by the ſterne, and direfull God of warre, / VVhoſe ſinowie necke in battel nere did bow, / VVho conquers where he comes in euery iarre; […]
Each, like the Grecian artist, wooes / The image he himself has wrought.
You woo me, you court me / You tease me, you please me / You school me, give me some things to think about / Ignite me, you invite me
gloss: To court solicitously; to invite with importunity; to solicit in love.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Thee Chauntreſs oft the Woods among, / I woo to hear thy eeven Song;
I woo the wind / That still delays his coming.
It will be a tragedy if further enterprises of this kind—for example, the one proposed between South Wales, Bristol and the South Coast via Salisbury—are now deferred until they, too, are realised too late to make an impact on a public that is too firmly wedded to the roads to be wooed back to the trains.
Synonyms: address
beau
bedear
chase after
endear
make a move (on)
make love
pitch woo
put the moves on
romance
solicit
spark
woo
Related words: courtship
date
Derived words: pitch woo
wooer
Translations: