Originally onomatopoeic ("perhaps ancient" according to Online Etymology Dictionary) for a puff of air, after earlier poh and similar to later pew, phew, pho, phoo, poof. Later influenced by poop, onomatopoeic for the sound of flatulating and defecating, and by interjections of disgust similar to phew, pee-ew. Interjection for an unpleasant smell possibly linked to French puer (“to stink”).
Meanings
Expressing dismissal, contempt, impatience, etc.
Pooh, ha, ha, ha, I know you envy me. 1694, William Congreve, Double-Dealer, I, i, 2:
‘Pooh, just a simple trick of skipping two hours ahead of the clock, so that people can’t see what’s happening now because it hasn’t happened yet.’ 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 11:
I am carelesse what the fustie World speakes of me, puh. 1600, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humor, iii, i, sig. iii
Expressing disgust at an unpleasant smell.
Pooh!... How you smell of tobacco. 1859, S.S. Steele, Conjugal Lesson, page 182:
(alt-of, alternative, euphemistic) Alternative form of poo: a minced oath for 'shit'.
Originally onomatopoeic ("perhaps ancient" according to Online Etymology Dictionary) for a puff of air, after earlier poh and similar to later pew, phew, pho, phoo, poof. Later influenced by poop, onomatopoeic for the sound of flatulating and defecating, and by interjections of disgust similar to phew, pee-ew. Interjection for an unpleasant smell possibly linked to French puer (“to stink”).
Meanings
(countable) An instance of saying "pooh".
A thing which causes many ‘poohs’ and ‘pishes’. 1818, Lord Byron, Beppo, canto vii, l. 4:
She […] hath ſtiled him with an immortall penne, the bawewawe of ſchollars, the tutt of gentlemen, the tee-heegh of gentlewomen, the phy of citizens, the blurt of Courtiers, the poogh of good letters, the faph of good manners, and the whoop-hooe of good boyes in London ſtreetes. 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 181:
(alt-of, alternative, childish, uncountable) Alternative form of poo: feces.
‘You're rather in the pooh with the Adelaide police.’ ‘How much do I stink with them?’ 1961, Camille Auguste Marie Caseleyr, The Living Come First, page 177:
(UK, alt-of, alternative, childish, countable) Alternative form of poo: A piece of feces; an act of defecation.
Originally onomatopoeic ("perhaps ancient" according to Online Etymology Dictionary) for a puff of air, after earlier poh and similar to later pew, phew, pho, phoo, poof. Later influenced by poop, onomatopoeic for the sound of flatulating and defecating, and by interjections of disgust similar to phew, pee-ew. Interjection for an unpleasant smell possibly linked to French puer (“to stink”).
Meanings
(intransitive) To say "pooh".
The wrimouth'd Crittick...
That mewes, and puh's and shakes his brainelesse head... 1614, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses, John Taylor, L4:
The Doctor... pshaw'd and pooh'd for some time. 1798, Charlotte Smith, The Young Philosopher, volume I, page 44:
(transitive) To say "pooh" to.
‘Pooh! pooh!’ re-echoed his mother, ‘don't pooh me, John.’ 1858, Archer Polson, Law & Lawyers, page 15:
(alt-of, alternative, childish, intransitive) Alternative form of poo: To defecate or dirty something with feces.