shout

• IPA^(key): /ʃaʊt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ʃʌʊt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -aʊt

From Middle English shouten. Further origin uncertain. Possibly related to Middle English shooten (“to shoot (out)”) or from or akin to Old Norse skúta (“to chide, scold”), Old Norse skúti, skúta (“a taunt”). See also the second, rare sense of the verb scout (“to reject with contempt”).

shout (plural shouts)

1. A loud burst of voice or voices; a violent and sudden outcry, especially that of a multitude expressing joy, triumph, exultation, anger, or great effort.

   give out a shout

   hear a desperate shout

   an ear-piercing shout

2. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A round of drinks in a pub; the turn to pay the shot or scot; an act of paying for a round of drinks.
   • 1984, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, page 290:

     “I′ll get my wine though,” taking out her wallet.
     “No. This is my shout,” holding up his hand as though to ward her money off.

   • 2006, Lily Allen, Knock 'Em Out:

     Cut to the pub on a lads night out,
     Man at the bar cos it was his shout

   • 2008, George Papaellinas, The Trip: An Odyssey, re.press, Australia, page 6,

     It was always my shout down the pub with Theo.

3. (UK, Australia, slang) A call-out for an emergency services team.
   • 2017, Dave Boulter, London's Emergency Service Vehicles:

     Yet another ambulance on a shout enters Parliament Square.

4. (informal) A greeting, name-check or other mention, for example on a radio or TV program.

   Synonym: shout out

   Next up the new single from Beyoncé, but first a shout to Barry Bloggins and his wife Belinda...

5. (informal) A suggestion; an idea.
   • 1998, Eddy Brimson, Hooligan, page 180:

     Yeah, good shout. We might get an idea of what we're up against before we park up and do business.

   • 2018 September 6, Peter Crouch, How to Be a Footballer, Random House, →ISBN:

     You're bored, you decide to get a tattoo. Maybe you really like chimps. You sit down with your tattoo artist. Just the chimp, sir? No, hang on. Can you do a chimp, but in a suit? Yeah, nice shout, what about sticking a pair of glasses on him too? Love it, let's have him holding a gun as well. Hold on, will he be allowed a gun if he's short-sighted? Good question, but let's not forget the bigger issue here: he's a monkey.

   • 2021 July 1, Holly Hepburn, The Little Shop of Hidden Treasures Part Two: Secret Loves, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     'I could do with a nap myself,' Hope said, trying unsuccessfully to hide a 'There's something about the sea air that wears you out, isn't there?'
     Will nodded. 'That's why I suggested we pick up the coffees. I might regret it at bedtime but for now I'd rather be wired than weary.'
     Hope took a sip of her latte and reached for the radio controls. 'Good shout. I'll see if I can nd us some tunes to listen to.' They chatted as the miles passed, […]

   • 2022 March 1, Alice Oseman, Loveless, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN:

     “I...had a nap,” I said.
     “Good shout. Got to be strategic about these things. Jess went for a nap a couple of hours ago but hasn't resurfaced, so I think she's failed again this year.” I blinked. I didn't know what to say to him. “So, no one else make it?”

   • 2022 May 3, Caroline O'Donoghue, All Our Hidden Gifts, Candlewick Press, →ISBN, page 38:

     "Just tell him you're not ready."
     She twists her mouth and looks at the card again. "To tell you the truth, I don't think I'll ever be ready. […] "
     I think for a moment. "Well, you could always say that romance is distracting you from your . . . your craft."
     She nods, considering this. “That's not a bad shout.”
     “Or you could break up with him.”
     She smiles and looks at the ground. “That's not a bad shout, either.” At that moment, there's a knock on the cupboard door, and I get up to answer it.

shout (third-person singular simple present shouts, present participle shouting, simple past and past participle shouted)

1. (intransitive) To utter a sudden and loud cry, as in joy, triumph, exultation or anger, or to attract attention, to animate others, etc.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     They shouted thrice; what was the last cry for?

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 6:5–20:

     5 And it shall come to passe that when they make a long blast with the rammes-horne, and when ye heare the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout: and the wall of the citie shall fall downe flat, and the people shall ascend vp euery man straight before him. […]
     10 And Ioshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, vntill the day I bid you shoute, then shall ye shoute. […]
     15 And it came to passe on the seuenth day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the citie after the same maner, seuen times: only on that day they compassed the citie seuen times.
     16 And it came to passe at the seuenth time, when the Priests blewe with the trumpets, Ioshua said vnto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath giuen you the citie. […]
     20 So the people shouted when the Priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to passe when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell downe flat, so that the people went vp into the citie, euery man straight before him, and they tooke the citie.

   • 2020 June 3, Lilian Greenwood talks to Paul Stephen, “Rail's 'underlying challenges' remain”, in Rail, page 31:

     "I decided to do it [stand for election] because I'd been interested in politics for a long time and, like lots of people, had spent a lot of time shouting at the radio.

2. (transitive) To utter with a shout; to cry; to shout out

   They shouted his name to get his attention.

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To forcefully attract attention or proclaim one’s presence.
   • 1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

     We walk’d together on the crown
     Of a high mountain which look’d down
     Afar from its proud natural towers
     Of rock and forest, on the hills—
     The dwindled hills! begirt with bowers
     And shouting with a thousand rills.

4. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) To pay for food, drink or entertainment for others.

   Synonym: treat

   • 1999, Peter Moore, The Wrong Way Home: London to Sydney the Hard Way, page 301:

     After shouting me a plate of noodles and limp vegetables, he helped me change money by introducing me to the stallholder who offered the best exchange rates.

   • 2003, Peter Watt, To Chase the Storm, Pan MacMillan Australia, unnumbered page,

     ‘I have not seen my cousin Patrick in years,’ Martin answered defensively. ‘I doubt that, considering the way our lives have gone, an officer of the King′s army would be shouting me a drink in Mr O′Riley′s pub these days. […] ’

   • 2005, George G. Spearing, Dances with Marmots: A Pacific Crest Trail Adventure, page 32:

     Anyhow, he obviously bore no grudge against Kiwis, for he shouted me a beer and opened another one for himself, punctuating the operation with a spectacular and resounding fart that by all the laws of physical science should have left his trousers flapping in smouldering shreds.

   • 2010, Ivan Dunn, The Legend of Beau Baxter, HarperCollins Publishers, New Zealand, unnumbered page,

     Truth is, I notice the other blokes who have been shouting me nodding among themselves and thinking they′d better get in the queue if I am buying. Not likely. I am out of there.

5. (Internet) To post a text message (for example, email) in upper case, regarded as the electronic messaging equivalent of oral shouting.

   Please don't shout in the chat room.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To treat with shouts or clamor.
   • 1612–1626, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in [Contemplations vpon the Principall Passages of the Holy Storie], volumes (please specify |volume=II, V, or VI), London, →OCLC:

     How would these men have shouted at the laying on of the last stone of the battlements

• See also Thesaurus:shout

• yell
• scream

From Middle English shout(e), perhaps from Middle Low German schûte (“boat or light ship”). Doublet of schuit, see there for more.

shout (plural shouts)

1. (UK, dialect) A flat-bottomed boat, a barge (for carrying cargo, etc), now especially a light boat used in duck-shooting.
   • 2007 October 25, John Blair, Waterways and Canal-Building in Medieval England, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 124:

     Although the density of the flour in particular would be less than that of the wheat, an equivalent 200 quarters of wheat per shout would not seem out of the question here. Again using Table 4, this suggests quite large boats carrying nearly 35 tons. If the 'Blackfriars 3' shout did indeed carry only 7.5 tons, then the shouts coming from Henley in 1345 were considerably bigger vessels, […]

• Houts, Huots, South, houts, south, thous