whooper (hoʻper)

One who or that which whoops; a hooper: specifically applied in ornithology to a species of swan and of crane. whoop-hymn (höp'him), n. A weird melody chanted by the colored fishermen of the Poto mac river while hauling the seine: more fully called fishing - shore whoop-hymn. whooping (höʻping), n. [Verbal n. of whoop1, v.] A cry crying out; clamor; howling. Nought was heard but now and then the howle Of some vile curre, or whooping of the owle. W. Browne , Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 4. whooping-cough (hö'ping-kôf), n. An acute contagious disease of childhood, from which, however, adults are not always exempt, characterized by recurrent attacks of a peculiar spasmodic cough. This consists in a series of short expirations, followed (after a seeming effort) by a long strident inspiration, the whoop, and often accompanied by vomiting; pertu is. Also spelled hooping - cough .