(used as a call to attract attention, sometimes specially used after a word denoting a destination).
Westward ho! Land ho!
(used as an exclamation of surprise or delight.)
a sexually promiscuous woman.
a prostitute; whore.
a woman.
head office
government Home Office
Also: ho-ho. an imitation or representation of the sound of a deep laugh
an exclamation used to attract attention, announce a destination, etc
what ho!
land ho!
westward ho!
What does ho mean? Not to be confused with hoe (the gardening tool), a ho is an offensive term for a sex worker or a promiscuous woman. Some people use the term to insult women in general while some women have reclaimed the term. What are other forms of ho?hoe
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; a natural exclamation
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English ho, who, from Old French ho, and Old Norse hō; see also whoa
First recorded in 1965–70; dialectal or African American Vernacular English pronunciation of whore
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is this that has led Sir Keir and the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, to give Sir Olly Robbins the heave ho.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
We can hear his booming “ho, ho, ho” now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2025
The mood fluctuates between ho ho ho and ho hum.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2024
They chanted: “Hey hey, ho ho, Intro 360 has got to go.”
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2024
“Ho, ho, don’t think that ends it,” Bando said, and reached in his pocket for another clipping.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
On ICYMI, host Kate Lindsay and Slate tech editor Tony Ho Tran break down the digital do’s and don’ts for couples, and argue that the thing that ruined dating might actually be making relationships better.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
He would like his next film project — other than the Matt Johnson and Bong Joon Ho projects he’s already committed to, of course — to be something more “personal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Market stalls in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been shut, while police have stormed warehouses, clothing outlets and sneaker stores.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
This month, Taiwanese Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Ho Chin-tsang said Taiwan and the United States "will work to implement our shared export control goals", but the government has not provided details.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
This is when he started calling himself Ho Chi Minh—“Bringer of Light.”
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Thales HO 0.39%increase; green up pointing triangle said more generous European defense budgets would boost sales this year and beyond, as fresh Middle East turmoil adds new impetus to a booming European defense sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
Surface analysis revealed that ZrN has a very thin layer of HO when it is undergoing ORR.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2023
YUN HO: “For me it would be our first album that has two title songs that are ‘Pirate King’ and ‘Treasure’.”
From Reuters ● Apr. 29, 2022
HO: My first suggestion is that you consider making a trip to see your folks that lasts long enough to actually get this train up and running.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022
HO is it that every year invents the thousand-and-one new and pretty things which hang on Christmas-trees, and stuff the toes of Christmas stockings?
From St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, Nov 1877-Nov 1878 No 1, Nov 1877 by Dodge, Mary Mapes
Hundreds of others danced in circles and sang, “Hey hey, ho ho. White supremacy has got to go.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2017
"Hi ho. ho hum, here I am in the middle of Africa," Mark wrote his mother exultantly, typing out a letter on his portable.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Oh, ho. Another Podgórska. What do you want?”
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
“Ho ho. Gus Levy, detective. Don’t make me laugh. You probably wrote that letter one day after you won at the track and felt good. I knew it would end like this.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
It begins: 'My honorable good Lord, as I have ben always most bound vnto yor ho., so I humbly besech you to stand my good Lord.'
From Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts by Northcote, Rosalind
“There’s very little in our product portfolio that has benefited from tariffs,” said H.O.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
"It's essential for all of us to work to conserve fireflies," said Dr. Casey Sclar, Ph.D., the H.O.
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2023
“We want nothing but good things for the museum and its community, and that includes its neighbors,” said David H.O.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2022
“I strongly urge the global community to wait for the publication of the report from the W. H.O. mission,” he added.
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
When the latitude of the observation station is in the northern hemisphere, the H.O.
From A Quantitative Study of the Nocturnal Migration of Birds. Vol.3 No.2 by George H. Lowery.
My appearance upon the door-step was the signal for a burst of deep and long-rolling, "Ho, ho's," and then the ceremony commenced.
From The Great Lone Land A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America by Butler, William Francis
And right there, right in front of them big ornamental doors, we see Miss G. Washington Flamm, with about a thousand other carriages and wagons and Tally ho's and etcetry, and etcetry.
From Samantha at Saratoga by Holley, Marietta
What are you doing …?” while the dancers, hand-in-hand in a semicircle, danced a round dance backwards and forwards in front of him with half-suppressed giggles, whispers, smirks, and ho, ho, ho's.
From Royal Highness by Mann, Thomas
Radisson's speech was received with "Ho, ho's" of applause.
From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)
Now he took the hands of Arthur and Isabel together, and Mrs. Morris laughed more sweetly and with more oh's and ho's than ever; for Isabel sedately kissed Arthur's brother.
From Bylow Hill by Yohn, F. C. (Frederick Coffay)
Rescuers used what tools they could scrounge — shovels, hoes, pickaxes, their bare hands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
It can turn a century-old maker of back hoes and mining trucks into a hot tech stock.
From Barron's ● Jan. 13, 2026
Handheld tools, long-handled hoes, propane weed burners and even goats figure alongside herbicides and their impact on the environment.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 6, 2024
The farmworkers wanted long-handled hoes, because it hurt their backs to kneel down all day.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2023
Millions of us had laid our hoes down on the dry ground and faced north.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
“A lab accident cannot be ruled out until there is sufficient evidence to do so and those results are openly shared,” Tedros and hos co-authors write.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 13, 2021
Dr. Ralph Tremaglio was on the hos boat with his family when he heard three teenage boys yelling for help.
From Washington Times ● May 28, 2019
"Such human hos tility makes children into bad adults," Mrs. Kellogg says.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the past few years, how ever, the Colonial Office's onetime hos tility toward Zik has changed to a re signed cordiality.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Never mind me," replied Tony, as he led the horses off, "I have tended Captain Butler's hos afore this, and he wan't never onsatisfied with me."
From Horse-Shoe Robinson A Tale of the Tory Ascendency by Kennedy, John Pendleton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
