(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 ho,” he tried to keep from laughing.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
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
“Against this backdrop, policymakers are likely to place greater emphasis on exchange-rate stability and its implications for inflation and financial conditions,” BofA analysts Benson Wu and Ting Him Ho said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 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
Police said they tracked down the group on 11 June after investigating a spate of pet thefts in Ho Chi Minh City, according to local media reports.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
“When I tell him you were not an Austrian. Ho ho ho.”
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
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
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 shall be permitted to pass into the sanctuary of the cloud, and have communion with the Lord in the holy place?
From My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year by Jowett, John Henry
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 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
The letter, he added, “was communicated to high levels of the W. H.O. on Tuesday.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
Then Alice said: "I don't think H.O. is wanted at the council, it isn't anything amusing; you go and enjoy yourself by the sea, and catch the nice little crabs, H.O. dear."
From New Treasure Seekers or, The Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune by Nesbit, E. (Edith)
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
It isn't only what Baumberger thinks—I don't know as ho's got anything to say about it—it's what I think.
From Good Indian by Bower, B. M.
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
"Weel, Jamie, man, and ho's the wife and the wean the day?" he asked.
From Between You and Me by Lauder, Harry, Sir
Mr. Potiphar exploded in great ha ha's and ho ho's, from the end of the table.
From The Potiphar Papers by Curtis, George William
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
The farmworkers wanted long-handled hoes, because it hurt their backs to kneel down all day.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2023
Officers were seen using rakes and hoes, strimmers and a small excavator to clear paths through the scrub on a nearby slope - the sound of machinery at work audible in the remote area.
From BBC ● May 25, 2023
They had tools with them, hoes and spades and scythes.
From "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park
“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
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
Of the roughly 300,000 Americans who will enter mental hos pitals this year, more than half will be committed against their will.
From Time Magazine Archive
He convicted the state public-welfare director for neglect of duty after a typhoid epidemic killed more than 50 inmates at a state mental hos pital.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
