whoop

Etymology 1

From Middle English whopen, whowpen, howpen, houpen (“to whoop, cry out”), partially from Old French houper, hopper, houpper (“to shout”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwōpan, from Proto-Germanic *hwōpaną (“to boast, threaten”) (compare Gothic 𐍈𐍉𐍀𐌰𐌽 (ƕōpan, “to boast”), Old English hwōpan (“to threaten”)); and partially from Middle English wop (“weeping, lamentation”), from Old English wōp (“cry, outcry, shrieking, weeping, lamentation”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōp, from Proto-Germanic *wōpaz (“shout, cry, wail”) (compare Old Norse ópa (“to cry, scream, shout”), Gothic 𐍅𐍉𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wōpjan, “to cry out”)).

noun

1. A loud, eager cry, usually of joy.
   [A] great whoop of victory sounded as finally they carried the fish up the beach. 1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 30
2. A gasp, characteristic of whooping cough.
3. A bump on a racetrack.
   The key to jamming through the whoops is to keep your weight to the back of the quad […] and keep the front wheels high […] 2006, Steve Casper, ATVs: Everything You Need to Know, page 104
   The “98 MPH” sign used to be on a set of particularly vicious whoops at one of John's favorite racetracks. 2009, Lee Klancher, Kevin Cameron, Motorcycle Dream Garages, page 184

verb

1. (intransitive) To make a whoop.
   each whooping with a merry shout 1815, William Wordsworth, Beggars
   When naught was heard but now and then the howl / Of some vile cur, or whooping of the owl. 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals
2. (transitive) To shout, to yell.
   I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
3. To cough or breathe with a sonorous inspiration, as in whooping cough.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To insult with shouts; to chase with derision.

Etymology 2

From a traditional African American and Southern US pronunciation of whip.

verb

1. (transitive, informal) To beat, to strike.
2. (transitive, informal) To defeat thoroughly.