What Does Hoot Mean?
Hoot refers to the characteristic sound or cry made by an owl. It can also refer to a harsh, guttural cry to show contempt or disrespect. For example: The singer was booed and hooted away before he could even finish singing one stanza. “Hooting’ in this sense refers to the characteristic whistle, sounds or any other distraction causing sounds like cat-calls and hisses made by people to show their angst and displeasure. “Hoot” in slang can also mean something rip-roaringly funny. For example: “That pair of jeans is a hoot!” or “The laugh-a-minute speech of Bill Cosby was such a hoot!” Something of a little or no value is also said to be “a hoot.” The synonyms in this context are slangs like damn, darn, shucks, tinker’s dam etc. There is also an idiom, “not give a hoot” or “care a hoot” which simply means “not give much of any importance.
