"pooh-pooh" meaning in English

See pooh-pooh in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˌpuːˈpuː/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈpuˈpu/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-pooh-pooh.ogg Forms: pooh-poohs [present, singular, third-person], pooh-poohing [participle, present], pooh-poohed [participle, past], pooh-poohed [past]
Rhymes: -uː Etymology: From a reduplication of pooh (“an utterance of the word pooh”). Head templates: {{en-verb}} pooh-pooh (third-person singular simple present pooh-poohs, present participle pooh-poohing, simple past and past participle pooh-poohed)
  1. (transitive) To dismiss idly with contempt or derision. Tags: transitive Synonyms: poohpooh Related terms: shit talk

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From a reduplication of pooh (“an utterance of the word pooh”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pooh-pooh (third-person singular simple present pooh-poohs, present participle pooh-poohing, simple past and past participle pooh-poohed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English reduplicated coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Reduplicated coordinated pairs",
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Reduplications",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, chapter 58, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 578:",
          "text": "[W]hen he went abroad with Dombey and was chasing that vagabond up and down France, J. Bagstock would have pooh-pooh'd you—would have pooh-pooh'd you, Sir, by the Lord!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1861, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “On Ribbons”, in Roundabout Papers, London: Smith, Elder & Co., published 1863, →OCLC:",
          "text": "In England, until very late days, we have been accustomed rather to pooh-pooh national Orders, to vote ribbons and crosses tinsel gewgaws, foolish foreign ornaments, and so forth.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VIII, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I, page 119:",
          "text": "Mr Macey, though he joined in the defence of Marner against all suspicions of deceit, also pooh-poohed the tinder-box; indeed, repudiated it as a rather impious suggestion, tending to imply that everything must be done by human hands, and that there was no power which could make away with the guineas without moving the bricks.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 June 21, Murray Sayle, “After George W. Bush, the deluge”, in London Review of Books, volume 23, number 12, archived from the original on 2016-09-09, pages 3–9:",
          "text": "Pooh-poohing the IPCC's science has been one line of attack by [George W.] Bush's backers.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004 September 23, David Simpson, “The kid who talked too much and became President”, in London Review of Books, volume 26, number 18, archived from the original on 2016-03-18, pages 3–5:",
          "text": "[Bill] Clinton haters will pooh-pooh all of these acknowledgements as the index of a compulsive sociability that knows no limits and upholds no standards, a psychic necessity we should not make into a moral virtue.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dismiss idly with contempt or derision."
      ],
      "id": "en-pooh-pooh-en-verb-RbXAKqbV",
      "links": [
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "idly",
          "idly"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt"
        ],
        [
          "derision",
          "derision"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To dismiss idly with contempt or derision."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "shit talk"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "poohpooh"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌpuːˈpuː/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpuˈpu/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-pooh-pooh.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f6/En-au-pooh-pooh.ogg/En-au-pooh-pooh.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/En-au-pooh-pooh.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-uː"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pooh-pooh"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From a reduplication of pooh (“an utterance of the word pooh”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pooh-poohed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "pooh-pooh (third-person singular simple present pooh-poohs, present participle pooh-poohing, simple past and past participle pooh-poohed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "shit talk"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English reduplicated coordinated pairs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/uː",
        "Rhymes:English/uː/2 syllables"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, chapter 58, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 578:",
          "text": "[W]hen he went abroad with Dombey and was chasing that vagabond up and down France, J. Bagstock would have pooh-pooh'd you—would have pooh-pooh'd you, Sir, by the Lord!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1861, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “On Ribbons”, in Roundabout Papers, London: Smith, Elder & Co., published 1863, →OCLC:",
          "text": "In England, until very late days, we have been accustomed rather to pooh-pooh national Orders, to vote ribbons and crosses tinsel gewgaws, foolish foreign ornaments, and so forth.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VIII, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I, page 119:",
          "text": "Mr Macey, though he joined in the defence of Marner against all suspicions of deceit, also pooh-poohed the tinder-box; indeed, repudiated it as a rather impious suggestion, tending to imply that everything must be done by human hands, and that there was no power which could make away with the guineas without moving the bricks.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001 June 21, Murray Sayle, “After George W. Bush, the deluge”, in London Review of Books, volume 23, number 12, archived from the original on 2016-09-09, pages 3–9:",
          "text": "Pooh-poohing the IPCC's science has been one line of attack by [George W.] Bush's backers.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004 September 23, David Simpson, “The kid who talked too much and became President”, in London Review of Books, volume 26, number 18, archived from the original on 2016-03-18, pages 3–5:",
          "text": "[Bill] Clinton haters will pooh-pooh all of these acknowledgements as the index of a compulsive sociability that knows no limits and upholds no standards, a psychic necessity we should not make into a moral virtue.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To dismiss idly with contempt or derision."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "dismiss",
          "dismiss"
        ],
        [
          "idly",
          "idly"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt"
        ],
        [
          "derision",
          "derision"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To dismiss idly with contempt or derision."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌpuːˈpuː/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpuˈpu/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-pooh-pooh.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/f6/En-au-pooh-pooh.ogg/En-au-pooh-pooh.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/En-au-pooh-pooh.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-uː"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "poohpooh"
    }
  ],
  "word": "pooh-pooh"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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