heigh-ho

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈheɪˌhəʊ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhaɪˈhoʊ/, /ˈheɪˈhoʊ/
  • Homophone: hey ho

Noun

heigh-ho (plural heigh-hos)

  1. Used as a cadence-count used for synchronized walking, marching, pulling, lifting, etc.
    • 1937 Walt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, animated feature-length motion picture; a chant sung by the seven dwarfs:
      Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go, ...
  2. Colaptes auratus, northern flicker.

Verb

heigh-ho (third-person singular simple present heigh-hos, present participle heigh-hoing, simple past and past participle heigh-hoed)

  1. (intransitive) To chant "heigh-ho".
    • 1927 Porterfield, William M. Bamboo and its uses in China, Chinese Government Bureau of Economic Information, Booklet Series 2, p40. Cited in David Farrelly, The Book of Bamboo, p25; Sierra Club Books, 1984.
      Big bamboo poles are used for carrying heavy loads in China. In the cities one hears the familiar antiphonal “heigh-ho'ing”, indicating that a heavy load is being moved somewhere. The heavier the load, the louder and more agonized the chant.
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