hooverize
UK/ˈhuːvə(ɹ)aɪz/US/ˈhuvɚaɪz/
hooverize is the alternative form of Hooverize.
Verb capitalized: Hooverize
Hooverize (third-person singular simple present Hooverizes, present participle Hooverizing, simple past and past participle Hooverized)
- To be economical in the use of a resource, particularly food.
- The clean plate is the slogan of today, / And we this vital war-cry must obey, / And waste no single particle or crust / And save the scraps, for now we really must / Hooverize! / The empty garbage pail is now the rage, / And in this ‘war on waste’ which we must wage / To throw away an egg shell...1917, Margaret Leet Beckman, “Hooverize!”, in Table Talk, volume 43, number 3, page 21
- ‘Hooverize’ is the word in our national economical situation. Let us Hooverize in the telephone service; conserve the force that plays such an important role in our present-day business methods; save time; save electricity spent on tomfoolery gossipping over the wire; keep the front door for...1918, Whilhelm Bodemann, “Hooverizing the Telephone”, in N.A.R.D. Journal, volume 26, page 25
Forms of hooverize
| third-person singular present | hooverizes |
|---|---|
| present participle | hooverizing |
| past participle | hooverized |
| past | hooverized |
| third-person singular present | Hooverizes |
| present participle | Hooverizing |
| past participle | Hooverized |
| past | Hooverized |
| alternative form | Hooverise |
| alternative form | hooverize |
| alternative form | hooverise |
Origin of hooverize
From Hoover + -ize, named after Herbert Hoover, who, as head of the Food and Drug Administration during World War I, encouraged Americans to ration food. Apparently coined in the poem reproduced below.
Words formed from hooverize
Questions about hooverize
- What does hooverize mean?
- Hooverize means to be economical in the use of a resource, particularly food.
- What is hooverize the alternative form of?
- Hooverize is the alternative form of Hooverize.
- What part of speech is hooverize?
- Hooverize is a verb.
- How do you pronounce hooverize?
- Hooverize is pronounced /ˈhuvɚaɪz/ (US).
- What is the past tense of hooverize?
- The past tense of hooverize is hooverized.
Words near hooverize in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hooverize (page history and authors); Hooverize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “hooverize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hooverize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.