coo

verb

\ ˈkü

cooed; cooing; coos

Definition of coo

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

1 : to make the low soft cry of a dove or pigeon or a similar sound The baby cooed quietly in her crib.

2 : to talk fondly, amorously, or appreciatively The family cooed over the baby pictures.

COO

abbreviation

Definition of COO (Entry 2 of 2)

chief operating officer

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Examples of coo in a Sentence

Verb

The baby cooed quietly in her crib. The baby was making a cooing sound. They all cooed over the baby pictures. “Oh, how sweet,” she cooed.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Joyous level design and an adorable cast of cooing characters might look just as good on a flat screen, but Astro Bot wins out by infusing its satisfying, Mario-caliber levels and puzzles with comfortable, natural VR interactions. — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, "Ars Technica’s best games of 2018," 24 Dec. 2018 The couple’s two-year-old daughter, Luna, is rambling around nearby; their recent arrival, Miles, is cooing in a bassinet. — Gillian Laab, Vogue, "Chrissy Teigen on Kanye, Getting Blocked by Trump, and Actually Caring About Her Comments," 16 Oct. 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been constantly cooing over babies, Meghan opened up about her pregnancy experience, and Prince Harry even gave a shout out to her baby bump in his speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Invictus Games. — Lucy Wood, Marie Claire, "Prince Harry Revealed Whether He Wants a Baby Boy or a Baby Girl With Meghan Markle," 22 Oct. 2018 Hushed melodies and cooing vocals cascade over clean, arpeggiated acoustic guitar, and Risker's longtime collaborator Joshua Wentz adds keyboards and electronic enhancements that help push the material into a spacey, reverberant psychedelic zone. — Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader, "Jessica Risker sharpens her sweet songs on a hazy new album," 18 Apr. 2018 Pesce arrives mid-episode, and Sorrentino practically coos with joy. — refinery29.com, "Last Night's Jersey Shore Featured Ronnie Magro's Most Honest Moment In The House," 15 June 2018 While an incalculable number of people would like to swaddle and coo at the Big Boy, one person publicly congratulated the Duchess and Prince William who actually has a shot at meeting the little cherub: Michelle Obama. — Amanda Arnold, The Cut, "The Obamas Can’t Wait to Meet Kate Middleton and Prince William’s New Baby," 23 Apr. 2018 Several new mothers clutch babies to their chests; some female students coo at them. — David Grimm, Science | AAAS, "‘A cataclysmic wake-up call’: Can more candor win back support for animal research?," 26 June 2018 A couple months ago, Kara Terflinger and her daughters were in the grocery store when a woman walked up to look and coo at 6-month-old baby Finley. — Blake Sebring, Post-Tribune, "Town rallies around baby who successfully fought off cancer," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'coo.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

30 Dec 2018

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for coo

The first known use of coo was in 1577

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More Definitions for coo

COO

abbreviation

Financial Definition of COO

What It Is

The chief operating officer (COO) is responsible for executing and implementing the operational directives set by the CEO and the board of directors. Whereas the CEO is responsible for the overall leadership of the company, the COO is responsible for the day-to-day execution.

How It Works

The COO works for the CEO. Often, the board of directors has a role in the selection of the COO. The COO is often viewed as the CEO's second in command.

There is a lot of variety in the COO's job across industries and companies, but in general the COO oversees a company's operations on a more detailed basis than the CEO. The COO also translates the board's and the CEO's strategic objectives into executable plans.

For example, if one of the company's objectives is to increase customer satisfaction, the COO works with the appropriate departments to execute the plan and devises ways to measure and control the progress. The COO then monitors those measurements over time, advises the CEO and board on certain issues and reports back to the CEO on the status of the progress toward the strategic goal.

If companies were ships, the CEO would be the captain, deciding where the ship is going and standing on deck to ensure things were moving in the right direction. The COO would be below deck making sure everyone is rowing in the right direction, measuring resource levels, making sure everybody understood what to do and calculating how long it should be until the ship reached its destination.

Why It Matters

COOs are behind-the-scenes people with a lot of responsibility. They are "go-to" people who are critical to effective organizations. The best COOs work with the culture of the organization to get things done according to its strategic vision and the directives set forth by the CEO.

It is very important that the COO is able to trust and work well with the CEO and CFO. The COO must be able to persuade and motivate people toward action; must be able to manage a wide range of departments; and must be able to do so within financial constraints.

Source: Investing Answers

coo

verb