cooee

• POS: Interjection, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: coo=ee

CIDE DICTIONARY

cooee, n. [Of imitative origin.].

 A peculiar cry uttered by the Australian aborigines as a call to attract attention, and also in common use among the Australian colonists. In the actual call the first syllable is much prolonged (kcooee is generally used.

Within cooey, within earshot.

cooee, v. i. 

 To call out cooee.
"I cooeyed and beckoned them to approach."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

cooee, n., int., & v. colloq.
--n. & int. a sound used to attract attention, esp. at a distance.
--v.intr. (cooees, cooeed, cooeeing) make this sound.

Idiom

within cooee (or a cooee) of Austral. & NZ colloq. very near to.

Etymology

imit. of a signal used by Australian Aboriginals and copied by settlers