whoa

Interjection

1. Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down.
   • Whoa, Nelly!
   • The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in. “Whoa now, just a minute,” said a club member, holding up his walking stick. “Just don’t start up them there stairs yet awhile.”1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC
2. An expression of surprise.
   • Whoa, are you serious?
   • Whoa. Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)
3. Used as a meaningless filler in song lyrics.
   • I am the type who is liable to snipe you
     With two seconds left to go, whoa.2003, "Weird Al" Yankovic, eBay (song)
   • And oh whoa girl, it's a shame.
   • Oh whoa girl, it's a doggone shame.2010, Bruce Springsteen, It's a Shame

Verb

whoa (third-person singular simple present whoas, present participle whoaing, simple past and past participle whoaed)

1. (transitive) To attempt to slow (an animal) by crying "whoa".
   • He was whoaing the horses loudly, and they did seem to be going faster than usual—in fact, they were galloping.1926, Josephine Demott Robinson, The Circus Lady, page 38