ho
interjection
(used as a call to attract attention, sometimes specially used after a word denoting a destination).
ho
1 American
[hoh]
/ hoʊ /
interjection
-
(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.)
ho
2
American
[hoh]
/ hoʊ /
interjection
ho
3
American
[hoh]
/ hoʊ /
Or
hoe
noun
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
-
hos,
plural
-
hoes,
plural
-
ho's
plural
-
a sexually promiscuous woman.
-
a prostitute; whore.
-
a woman.
Ho
4
American
Symbol, Chemistry.
HO
5
American
[hoh]
/ hoʊ /
noun
ho.
6
American
abbreviation
H.O.
7
American
abbreviation
HO
1
British
abbreviation
-
head office
-
government Home Office
ho
2
British
/ həʊ /
interjection
-
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!
Ho
3
British
symbol
ho
4
British
/ həʊ /
noun
ho.
5
British
abbreviation
Usage
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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ho1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; a natural exclamation
Origin of ho2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English ho, who, from Old French ho, and Old Norse hō; see also whoa
Origin of ho3
First recorded in 1965–70; dialectal or African American Vernacular English pronunciation of whore
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That wall of sound barrage of guitars and then: “Hey, ho, let’s go!”
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
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
Not all of the younger generation of Robleses is as gung ho about the family business as their parents are.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
We can hear his booming “ho, ho, ho” now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2025
But voting booths aside, I worried I'd be betraying my Iranian side if I was too gung ho about becoming fully Americanized.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
Anna Ho, an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University and a coauthor with Perley on the paper, identified the remarkable event soon after its light arrived at Earth.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Ryan Ho, founder of social-trading app Legend, said he held a seven-figure bitcoin position when the digital currency traded near $120,000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Handing down the sentence, Judge Kelly Ho said given Maximilien's "age and nature of the offence", alternatives like probation or a community-based sentence would not be imposed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
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
The Soviets shipped weapons to Ho Chi Minh; the Americans supplied weapons to the French.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
BAE Systems was the biggest riser, surging 7.9%, followed closely by Saab and Thales HO 3.37%increase; green up pointing triangle , both of which were up 6.1%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 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
Their HO Scale trains and surrounding scenes replicate the Western North Carolina Railroad running from Salisbury, N.C., up to Asheville in the 1950s.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 30, 2021
HO The foregoing elements are contained in a very simple diagram, Fig.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891 by Various
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
“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
“Oh, ho. Another Podgórska. What do you want?”
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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 Rosalind Northcote
“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
"He must be awfully rich," said H.O., "wanting all those rooms."
From New Treasure Seekers or, The Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune by E. (Edith) Nesbit
"Weel, Jamie, man, and ho's the wife and the wean the day?" he asked.
From Between You and Me by Sir Harry Lauder
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 F. C. (Frederick Coffay) Yohn
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 Marietta Holley
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 Thomas Mann
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 Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut
Behind her hundreds of people work side by side, hacking into the rocky ground with hoes and shovels.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 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
One account said the Russians paid the Kashia Pomo people already living there “three blankets, two axes, three hoes, and a miscellaneous assortment of beads” for the use of the land.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2025
He and others scrounged up replacement hoes, shovels and rakes.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 15, 2022
Some built new mounds or maintained the old; others hauled wood for fuel and houses or carried water in leather pouches or weeded the maize fields with stone hoes.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
“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
The Germans still hold 1,500,000 French prisoners of war as hos tages, feed them on bread and soup.
From Time Magazine Archive
Instead the activists aimed their hey hey, ho hos at an obscure global financial agreement of the kind that usually elicits yawns, not demonstrations.
From Time Magazine Archive
The creaking of the hawsers and the "heave hos" of the crew as they warped the Seamew in to the wharf awoke the girl passenger in the cabin.
From Sheila of Big Wreck Cove A Story of Cape Cod by R. Emmett (Robert Emmett) Owen
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.
