whey

Noun

whey (usually uncountable, plural wheys)

1. (usually) The liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained in the process of making cheese.
   • Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away.1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 23
   • {...} if I wished any blessing in the world, it was to find him a worthy object of pride; and I’m bitterly disappointed with the whey-faced, whining wretch!1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XX, in Wuthering Heights

Interjection

1. (UK, dated) A shout for attention
   • He swayed over to the door, peered out, shouted "whey!" and came back, looking severe.1928, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Waste Corner
   • somebody who was more or less to their senses, shouted... ' Whey! ... Had on lads!' and everybody was trying to get wocken up and sorted out.1982, Frank Entwisle, Abroad in England
2. (UK) A shout of enthusiasm or delight
   • ... apart from Max, who rode his pallet like a surfboard with a huge grin plastered across his face. “Wheyyyyyyy!” Max yelled with delight.2011 September 1, Case File 12: The Case of the Messy Mucked Up Masterpiece, Hachette UK, →ISBN
   • Several drunken men shouted from the corner. “Wheyyyy, showtime! Go on, go on!”2016 December 30, Hahn Moo-Sook, The House of Pomegranate Trees, Literature Translation Institute of Korea, →ISBN
3. (UK) Shouted when someone drops a glass or other crockery, especially in a pub.
   • 12. Smashing a glass and the whole bar choruses "WHEYYYY".2014 February 18, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “25 things only bar staff will understand”, in Cosmopolitan UK
   • If they don't shout "wheyyy" when you smash a glass, did it even smash?2020 February 10, Claire Galloway, “15 things only people who have worked in an Edinburgh pub will understand”, in Edinburgh Live