hellos

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of hello.

   The host exchanged quick hellos with each guest before dinner.

   A chorus of cheerful hellos greeted her when she walked into the office.

   Note

   An interjection turned into a countable thing: once "Hello!" becomes a noun, it takes the ordinary -s plural, so greetings can be counted, exchanged and heard in chorus. The same spelling also serves the verb meaning "greets", and the surrounding words decide which one is meant. After an adjective or determiner (quick hellos, a chorus of hellos) it is the noun. After a singular subject it is the verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of hello.

   The clerk cheerfully hellos each customer who steps up to the counter.

   Whenever the manager hellos the night shift, the whole room relaxes a little.

   Note

   Here the greeting itself has become an action done to someone. The verb is transitive, so the person greeted follows directly with no preposition: she hellos the doorman, not hellos to him. It shares its spelling with the plural greetings, but a singular subject in front of it, such as the clerk or the manager, marks it as the verb.

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