ahoy

Interjection

1. Used to hail a ship, a boat or a person, or to attract attention.
   • While he was thus occupied, a voice, still more uncouth than the former, bawled aloud, ‘Ho! the house, a-hoy!’1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
   • I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   oi

2. (humorous) Warning of something approaching or impending.
   • Lawsuits, ahoy! […] Towns can regulate use of their beaches. But what about the waters offshore?1989, Forbes, volume 143, numbers 5-7, page 74
   • Catalytic converters ahoy – Zeppelin's latest is one of those high-rev 3D driving games that simulates racing tracks from all over the world.1992, Championship Run (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 75, page 61

Verb

ahoy (third-person singular simple present ahoys, present participle ahoying, simple past and past participle ahoyed)

1. To hail with a cry of "ahoy".

Noun

ahoy (plural ahoys)

1. An utterance of this interjection.
   • There were many ahoys heard from the approaching ship.