Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • interjection Used to hail a ship or to attract attention.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Nautical, an exclamation used to attract the attention of persons at a distance: as, ship ahoy!

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • interjection (Naut.) A term used in hailing.”

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection nautical Used to hail a ship, a boat or a person, or to attract attention.
  • verb To hail with a cry of "ahoy".

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From "a-hoy"; 'hoy' being a Middle English greeting dating back to the fourteenth century.

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Examples

  • And then there's the pub, all brown and homely inside, but with seats outside where you can watch the activity on the water as the boats dislodge their holidaymaker crews in search of a pie and a pint, and people who look like habitual landlubbers establish their credentials by shouting commands which incorporate such seafarer words as "ahoy".

    The rail to nowhere 2010

  • The word "ahoy" will, however, be retained, and in fact used to even more excess than before.

    Archive 2004-02-01 2004

  • The word "ahoy" will, however, be retained, and in fact used to even more excess than before.

    Archive 2004-02-01 2004

  • The long drawn out "ahoy" had scarcely died on their lips before it was answered by an equally long blast from the whistle, to which they responded by repeating the hail at brief intervals, each answering blast of the whistle telling them that the boat was drawing nearer, until at length the faint loom of the boat showed in the darkness, and a lantern was suddenly held high above a man's head.

    In Search of El Dorado Harry Collingwood 1886

  • His heart began to throb and his hopes to rise, for he felt convinced that the "ahoy" was an answer to his call, and in a wild fit of excitement and joy he said to himself, --

    Fire Island Being the Adventures of Uncertain Naturalists in an Unknown Track George Manville Fenn 1870

  • A Google News search over the past month shows 414 stories with references to "ahoy," 150 to "avast," 76 to "walk the plank," 61 to "Davy Jones," and 165 to varying spellings of

    Blogs navigation 2009

  • Actually, he liked to use two ahoys in a row: Ahoy, ahoy!

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Actually, he liked to use two ahoys in a row: Ahoy, ahoy!

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • Anchors aweigh, ship ahoy, and all that— remember?

    My Navy Daze Bob Lamb 2011

  • The final cost of the film was somewhere between $140m and $160m, figures gleefully quoted by negative reviewers who spied a massive flop ahoy and predicted chastening financial losses.

    Mark Kermode: How to make an intelligent blockbuster and not alienate people 2011

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