wow

Interjection

1. An indication of excitement, surprise, astonishment, or pleasure.
   • Wow, I sure was surprised!
   • Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil Æneid (translation) vi. Prol. 19
2. An expression of amazement, awe, or admiration.
   • Wow! How do they do that?
3. Used sarcastically to express disapproval of something.
   • Wow… good job using all of our supplies on the first day.

Verb

wow (third-person singular simple present wows, present participle wowing, simple past and past participle wowed)

1. (informal, transitive) To amaze or awe.
   • He really wowed the audience.
   • If all of us can remember how great it felt to be wowed, why don't we make it a habit to do it more often for others? People remember you when you wow them, so to differentiate yourself with your clients and customers, think of doing something that would make them remember you.2015, Joe Sweeney, Mike Yorkey, Moving the Needle, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 200
2. (dialectal, intransitive) Of a cat, to mew.
3. (dialectal, intransitive) Of a dog, to howl.

Noun (1)

wow (plural wows)

1. (informal) Anything exceptionally surprising, unbelievable, outstanding, etc.
   • ‘And say, Jimmy, wait till you see me in my new outfit...It’s a wow, kid.’1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 144
   • ‘Jesus suffering fuck,’ said Adrian. ‘It’s not half a thought.’
     ‘Face it, it’s a wow.’1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 19
2. (informal) An utterance of "wow".
   • On this trip, we talked with fellow cruisers about their travels and boats, and many were curious about the Beneteau Swift Trawler. Gow graciously gave tours, during which we heard many wows, oohs and aahs.2009 April, MotorBoating, page 43
   • One woman took a seat nearer the front for a closer look at my maps. Several people exhaled loudly. I heard a wow now and then.2021 August 25, Jason King, The Climate Planner: Overcoming Pushback Against Local Mitigation and Adaptation Plans, Routledge, →ISBN

Noun (2)

wow (countable and uncountable, plural wows)

1. A relatively slow form of flutter (pitch variation) which can affect both gramophone records and tape recorders.
   • I often hear flutter and wows spoken of.1930, F.H. Richardson, “F.H. Richardson's Comments”, in Motion Picture Herald, volume 120, page 22
   • Sound films have to be loaded so that the sound is 5 seconds before the sound drum so a wow does not result when the film is punched up on the air.1970, Larry G. Goodwin, Thomas Koehring, Closed-circuit Television Production Techniques, page 80

Proper noun (1) capitalized: WoW

WoW

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of World of Warcraft.

   Synonyms:

   Warcraft

2. (US, abbreviation, derogatory, initialism) Initialism of War on Women.
3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Windows on Windows.

Noun (3) capitalized: WoW

WoW (uncountable)

1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of weight on wheels

Proper noun (2) capitalized: WOW

WOW

1. Alternative letter-case form of WoW (“World of Warcraft”).
   • Though WOW has yet to flinch from the upcoming third-generation MMOs, Crusade – which will be done when it’s done – should further swell its chest.2006 July, “WOW: The Burning Crusade”, in Edge, number 164, page 53
   • An interesting example is World of Warcraft (WOW), a fantasy, role-playing game in which players adopt characters and try to work their way from level 1 to level 80 by fighting with other players and acquiring weapons and magical artefacts.2008, Julie Cameron, Tony Flowers, Margaret Hart, Mark Peace, Neil Renton, Duncan Watts, Michael Wright, AQA Sociology A2, Nelson Thornes, →ISBN, page 143