Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used to attract attention or to express surprise, appreciation, wonder, or pleasure.
- interjection Used to express greeting.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An obsolete form of
hie . - An obsolete form of
high . - noun An obsolete or rare form of
hay . - An exclamation expressing pleasure, surprise, etc.: also used as a call to attract attention and as an interrogative.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete High.
- interjection An exclamation of joy, surprise, or encouragement.
- interjection A cry to set dogs on.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection An
exclamation to getattention . - interjection A
protest orreprimand . - interjection An
expression ofsurprise . - interjection An
informal greeting , similar tohi (used in the US, Australia and Canada). - interjection A
request forrepetition orexplanation ; an expression ofconfusion (see alsoeh ,huh ). - interjection A meaningless
beat marker or extra,filler syllable in musical lyrics. - noun country dancing A
choreographic figure in which the dancersweave between one another.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Ah ha, hey, hey� WHITEHEAD: In the 20-some years since then, Wadada Leo Smith has expanded his audience by reviving electric Miles Davis music with guitarist Henry Kaiser.
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For perhaps, that will be sufficient to have these fatties change their eating life style along with keeping the issue in the light by using the phrase "hey fatso" like we use to in this country.
latimes.com - News 2011
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I think there is a little mistake in the title hey … didn't you guys / TC slam the flip phone in a product review awhile back!!
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I think there is a little mistake in the title hey … didn't you guys / TC slam the flip phone in a product review awhile back!!
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Pavin ... hey, isn't that the wife of the U.S. captain?
U.S. Ryder Cup team moves on after rainsuits fail in Welsh rain Cindy Boren 2010
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And then just now it hit me again -- hey, I'm playing with Star Wars.
Siege wordcount update karenmiller 2009
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I remember I said I was gonna follow her before on Twitter (hey, is what I do, LOL!!) but do you know why I don't?
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[A] cue to idiot punk asking: hey is that Batman in the corner?
New KICK-ASS Poster Kicks Ass! Plus Check Out All the Previous Posters – Collider.com 2010
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But the man finally looks up anyway, and you look back at him to say, hey is this your bag, because if it's not, whose bag is it?
If You See Something, Say Something Melissa Swantkowski 2010
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And if the Jets and Ravens should both win ... hey, the AFC championship would be played in Giants Stadium.
Playoffs, Round Two grrm 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word hey
The American Heritage Dictionary has a "Regional Note" which tells us the following:
"Traditionally, hey was just an exclamation. Sometimes it expressed delight, sometimes a warning. Nowadays we find it used for emphasis as well, especially in the expression but hey. It is also a greeting. It is a short, colloquial version of How are you? and thus close kin to the informal salutation hi, which it seems to be replacing in many situations. Until recently, this greeting had a distinctly Southern flavor. The national survey conducted in the 1960s by the Dictionary of American Regional English found hey as a greeting restricted chiefly to Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The friendly hey has since spread throughout the United States."
August 2, 2010
chained_bear commented on the word hey
Hey, I didn't know it was chiefly southern.
August 4, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word hey
Hey, yeah--I know. I use it mostly when I want to acknowledge someone I know, but don't have time to stop and chat.
November 13, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word hey
Hey--check out the tags.
June 16, 2011
ilovesheep133 commented on the word hey
aye that is cool
May 2, 2019