Obs. exc. dial. Forms: α. 4, 6 wehe (4 wey), 4 wehee, 6–7 weehee, 7 wehie, weahae; 9 Sc. wehaw. β. 4 whi (? wihi), 6 wyhie, wigh-hie, 6–7 wihy, 7 wihee (whhi-hhee), 7–9 dial. wighee. [Echoic.]
A. int. A conventional representation of the sound uttered by horses.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VIII. 75 (MS. T.). As wilde bestis wiþ wehe worþ vp togedere.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Reeve’s T., 146. Whan the hors was laus, he gynneth gon Toward the fen, ther wilde Mares renne Forth with wehee [v.r. wehe].
c. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 477. And Annot wolde be nyce, and laughes, ‘tehe, wehe.’
1567. Triall of Treasure, E iij. We, he, he, he, he, ware the horse heles I saye.
1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, IV. ii. 194. Hee neither would cry wyhie, nor wag the taile.
1603. Dekker, Patient Grissill, 567. So they can crie wighee and hollow, kicking iade.
1606. Chapman, Gentl. Usher, I. i. 30. One cannot crie ‘wehie,’ but straight shee [your Barbarie mare] cries ‘tihi.’
1654. [see TEHEE int.].
c. 1690. Roxb. Ballads (1890), VII. 56. The Tapster bid them welcome then, and wea-hae did cry.
b. Used to a horse.
1821. Mactaggart, Gallov. Encycl., 472. Wehaw! a cry which displeases horses.
1847. Halliwell, Wighee, an exclamation to horses.
B. sb. An utterance of this sound; a whinny or neigh.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. IV. 21. Ȝit wol he make moni a whi [v.rr. many (a) wehe, wey] er he come þere.
c. 1589. Whip for Ape, 26, in Lyly’s Wks. (1902), III. 418. Such hahaes, teehees, weehees, wild colts play.
1592. Def. Conny-Catching, in Greene’s Wks. (Grosart), XI. 59. The olde Churle comming an hower before Supper time,… for an amorous wehe or two, as olde Jades wynnie when they cannot wagge the tayle.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., II. i. There’s ne’re a Gentleman i’ the countrey has the like humors for the Hobby-horse as I haue? I haue the Methode for the threeding of the needle,… and the wigh-hie, and the daggers in the Nose,… all the Humors incident to the qualitie.
1618. Fletcher, Women pleas’d, IV. i. His [the hobby-horse’s] lewd wihies.
1654. Gayton, Pleas. Notes, To Rdr. Rosinante looks for your Tih-hee, and you shall have his Whhi-hhee.
1673. Char. Coffee-House, 6. To … make an Oration to Caligula’s Horse, whence you can only expect a weehee or Jadish spurn.
