Hilloaing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Calling out in a loud, ringing voice to attract attention or to encourage hounds during a hunt
2. Shouting aloud with a long cry, typically to summon people or to spur on dogs chasing game
3. Raising a loud call to draw someone's notice or to drive on a pack of hunting dogs in the chase

Etymology: "Hilloaing" is the present participle and gerund of "hilloa", so the real story belongs to the base verb. "Hilloa" is a shout used to attract attention or to urge on hounds, and it is an old hunting call. The sound of the cry itself gives the word its shape: it is a sort of call, made to carry across open country, that hunters and riders used to halloo to one another. Because the verb is built from that call, "hilloaing" describes the act of making that shout over and over, which is why it is most often seen in the sense of shouting to hounds or to someone far off. The form simply adds the familiar -ing ending to the verb's stem.

Synonyms: halloo, holloa, hail