Word.ws English Dictionary

whoa, Nelly

whoa, Nelly interjection: an exclamation of surprise, especially one in response to an unexpected acceleration of speed.

Interjection

  1. an exclamation of surprise, especially one in response to an unexpected acceleration of speed
    • ...the jeep’s brakes never quite worked, even when Brady uttered the catch phrases "Whoa, Nellybelle" or "Whoa, Nelly."2020 June 17, The Denver Gazette

Origin of whoa, Nelly

From whoa! (a command to slow or stop) + Nelly (a common name for a mule or horse). A popular catch-phrase, together with "Whoa, Nellybelle" on the Roy Rogers TV show (1951–1957).

Questions about whoa, Nelly

What does whoa, Nelly mean?
Whoa, Nelly means an exclamation of surprise, especially one in response to an unexpected acceleration of speed.
What part of speech is whoa, Nelly?
Whoa, Nelly is an interjection.

Words near whoa, Nelly in the dictionary

  1. who-dunnits
  2. who-hit-John
  3. who-knows-how-many
  4. whoa
  5. whoa back
  6. whoa, Nelly
  7. whoadie
  8. whoadies
  9. whoaed
  10. whoah
  11. whoaing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whoa, Nelly (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: “whoa, Nelly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whoa%2C_nelly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.