attaboy

attaboy

An expression of encouragement, support, or approval toward a boy, man, or male animal, used as a standalone interjection before or after a sentence. Largely presumed to be a corruption of the expression "that's the boy"; it is also sometimes spelled "atta boy." You won the spelling bee? Attaboy!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

That-a-boy!

exclam. That is the way to do it! (Said to a boy or man.) Come on, Chuck. That-a-boy!
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • ata
  • atta
  • That-a-boy!
  • thatta
  • attagirl
  • gal
  • attagal
  • oh man
  • hear, hear
  • hear, hear!
References in periodicals archive
This indicated, of course, that the "attaboy" or attagirl" pats on the backs made employees feel valued for daily contributions in the workplace.
Also honored was Alex Moore for the Attaboy Award for serving his team in extraordinary ways and Andrew Truesdale was honored with the Leadership Award for 3rd quarter.
One example is the car-rehab series "Wheeler Dealers," a British television series produced by Attaboy TV that airs in the U.S.
Petraske, who is also behind New York bars White Star, Little Branch and Dutch Kills, moved the original Milk & Honey (now the home of Attaboy) uptown to a larger space in 2013.
The same score in Amateur would not have netted me anything but an "attaboy."
Give him a quick treat and an "attaboy" with a pat on his head, and cast him in the opposite direction.
Jones respects the kind of hitter Freeman is because of his ability to use all fields and his affinity for going "oppo."Jones is the first to tweet "attaboy Free" from his couch when Freeman goes to acrobatic lengths to shoot a ball up the third-base line with two strikes, like one he hit last year for a double with his lower body completely still.
"And when the speech ended, they all came up and gave me a sort of 'Attaboy, we're glad somebody said it, blah blah blah.' But they don't want to be the ones to change, because it's paying their bills.
Twenty-seven hours later, the high school senior who had recently broken up with his girlfriend had a date -- as well as a lot a series of semi-envious, semi-genuine ''attaboy'' tweets from friends and dozens of new Twitter followers.
"Attaboy, little devil, take care of her, she's a good girl!
After all, wouldn't most of us get an "attaboy" at work if we could tell our bosses that 40% of our customers plan to increase their use of our products in the coming years?
As a chiropractic internist, I feel especially grateful for the public's awareness of the necessity for more than a nod, a prescription, and an attaboy. I feel I am aptly trained to determine the level of health and the most likely organ system weakness.
Start over." With his attaboy, the document was sent out to the intelligence committee and thence to the world.
Attaboy! A congratulatory event of the first child birth!
Just the airport's name, Atatiirk, made me think of Attila the Hun screaming "Attaboy!" to his hordes of horseback-riding marauders.