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Origin and history of wow

wow(interj.)

1510s, Scottish, a natural expression of amazement. "This old interjection had a new popularity in the early 1900s and again during the 1960s and later" [Dictionary of American Slang].

wow(v.)

"overwhelm with delight or amazement," 1924, American English slang ("Variety"), from wow (interj.). Related: Wowed; wowing. As a noun meaning "unqualified success" by 1920.

also from 1924

Entries linking to wow

whoa(interj.)

1620s, a cry to call attention from a distance, a variant of who. Obsolete in the original sense. As a command to stop a horse, it is attested from 1843, a variant of ho. As an expression of delight or surprise (1980s) it gradually superseded wow, which was popular 1960s.

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    howler
    1800, "animal that howls," originally in reference to the South American monkey, agent noun from howl (v.). Meaning "glaring blunder, ridiculous mistake" is first recorded 1890. In early telephony (1886 - c. 1920) the name of a device used by the exchange to produce a loud howl i
    scream
    late Old English, scræmen, scremen, "utter a piercing cry, cry out with a shrill voice," a word of uncertain origin, similar to words in Scandinavian, Dutch, German, and Flemish (such as Old Norse skræma "to terrify, scare away," skramsa "to scream;" Swedish scrana "to scream," M
    riot
    c. 1200, "the following of a wrong scent by hounds" (a sense now obsolete but in one phrase); early 14c., "debauchery, extravagance, wanton living," from Anglo-French rioute, Old French riot, riote (12c.) "dispute, quarrel, (tedious) talk, chattering, argument, domestic strife,"
    powwow
    also pow-wow, 1620s, "priest, conjurer, sorcerer among the North American natives," from a southern New England Algonquian...
    bay
    .; English bow-wow; also see bawl....
    jest
    early 13c., geste, "narrative of exploits," from Old French geste "action, exploit," from Latin gesta "deeds," neuter plural of gestus, past participle of gerere "to carry, behave, act, perform" (see gest, which preserves the original sense). Sense descended through "idle tale" (
    impress
    late 14c., "have a strong effect on the mind or heart, to stamp deeply in the mind," from Latin impressus, past participle of imprimere "press into or upon, stamp," also figurative, from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + premere "to press, ho
    gag
    mid-15c., transitive, "to choke, strangle" (someone), possibly imitative and perhaps influenced by Old Norse gag-hals "with head thrown back." The sense of "stop a person's mouth by thrusting something into it" is first attested c. 1500. Intransitive sense of "to retch" is from 1
    joke
    1660s, joque, "a jest, something done to excite laughter," from Latin iocus "joke, jest, sport, pastime" (source also of French jeu, Spanish juego, Portuguese jogo, Italian gioco), from Proto-Italic *joko-, from PIE *iok-o- "word, utterance," from root *yek- (1) "to speak" (cogna
    jape
    late 14c., "to trick, beguile, jilt; to mock," also "to act foolishly; to speak jokingly, jest pleasantly," perhaps from Old French japer "to howl, bawl, scream" (Modern French japper), of echoic origin, or from Old French gaber "to mock, deride." Phonetics suits the former, but

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