hooley

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hooley^¹

/ˈhuːli/ UK
/ˈhuli/ US

Sounds like hoolie · Rhymes with -uːli

Where it comes from

The etymology of sense 1 (“noisy celebration or party”) is unknown. Sense 2 (“strong wind”) is possibly from one of the following:

* Borrowed from Orkney Scots hool(an) (“strong wind”) + English -ie (diminutive suffix). Hoolan is derived from Norn (unattested), from Old Norse ýlun (“howling, wailing”), from ýla (“to howl”) (ultimately onomatopoeic) + -un (suffix forming nouns).

* From sense 1.

noun hooleys · hoolie

Ireland A noisy celebration or party; also, an evening of traditional music and dance. At a family gathering, a wake or a Christmas hooley, other children would step forward to sing a rhyme or dance a hornpipe.
Scotland Chiefly in the form to blow a hooley: a strong wind; a gale. It’s blowing a hooley out there.

Hooley^²

proper noun Hooleys

countable, uncountable A surname.
countable, uncountable A small village in Reigate and Banstead borough, Surrey, England, just outside Greater London (OS grid ref TQ2856).

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MLA

"hooley." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hooley. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

hooley. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hooley

Chicago

"hooley." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hooley.

BibTeX

@misc{hooley_2026,
  title = {hooley},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hooley},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}