Meaning

noun a loud raucous cry (as of an owl)

noun a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt

noun something of little value

originFrom Middle English houten, huten, hoten, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Old Swedish huta (“to cast out in contempt”), related to Middle High German hiuzen, hūzen (“to call to pursuit”), Swedish hut! (“begone!”, interjection), Dutch hui (“ho, hallo”), Danish huj (“ho, hallo”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0