say boo

English

Verb

sayboo(third-person singular simple presentsays boo,present participlesaying boo,simple past and past participlesaid boo) (informal,chieflyUS)

1. (always in the negative)Tosayanything,especially inprotestor tocomplain.

   She took the last piece of cake, and nobodysaid boo.

   • 1993March 24,Mr. [Harris W. ]Fawell,quotee,Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1036[…]‎^[1],→OCLC,page41:

     Nobodysays booabout it, nobody has had any problems with it until the Hydrostorage case came along.

   • 2004,Beverly Barton,Worth Dying For‎^[2],→ISBN:

     "[…]What did you say to her to make her run off? "An incredulous expression formed on Tad's face." I didn'tsay booto the kid.[…]"

   • 2018,Ingrid Persaud,“The Sweet Sop”, inThe BBC National Short Story Award‎^[3],→ISBN:

     That kind of bad mind was not Christian but I wasn'tsaying boo.I am not that brave or that stupid.

   • For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:say boo.

Further reading

• “not say boo”,inCambridge English Dictionary,Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:Cambridge University Press,1999–present.