ho
A stop; a halt; a moderation of pace.
Interjection
- Used to attract attention to something sighted, usually by lookouts.
- Sail ho!
- Land ho!
- Man ho!
- halloo; hey; a call to excite attention, or to give notice of approach.
- What noise there, ho? - c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Ho! who's within? - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- O ho, O ho! Would't had been done! - 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Said accompanying a vigorous attack.
- "I'll hit you again, you thief !” he cried angrily, shaking “Ho-ho-ho!” he croaked. - 1900, Ching Foo, the Yellow Dwarf; Or the Bradys and the Opium Smokers, page 2:
- It was quite an astonishing show. Colonel Paul Malone of the U.S. Army kept thwacking away with all his might and main, shouting "Ho!" - 1955, John Sack, From Here to Shimbashi - Volume 637, page 172:
- Mona: Hee! Ha! Ho! Ha! The brain buffet is closed, buddy! Take that! And this! - 1999, Mona the Vampire, "Attack of the Living Scarecrow" (season 1, episode 1a)
Origin
From Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), from Old English hō, probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare Dutch ho, German ho, Old French ho! (“hold!, halt!”).
Derived
Noun derogatory, slang
- A whore; a sexually promiscuous woman; in general use as a highly offensive term of abuse for a woman with connotations of loose sexuality.
- Bros before hoes!
- So you want to see the show? You really don't have to be a ho. - 2001, “Psycho”, in Toxicity, performed by Serj Tankian with System of a Down:
- They was saying the jawn freaked out and called the cops cause all her sorority sistahs started ragging on her and calling her a stank ho for fucking half the basketball team. - 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious:...
- A woman in general; a bitch.
Origin
Pronunciation spelling of whore in non-rhotic accents with the dough–door merger, such as some varieties of African American Vernacular English; compare mo (“more”), fo' (“for; four”). The noun first appears c. 1964, whereas the verb first appears c. 1972.
Forms
Derived
Noun Entry 3
- A stop; a halt; a moderation of pace.
- O I, a plague on ’em, there’s no ho with ’em, they’re madder then^([sic – meaning than]) March hares. - 1604 (date written), Tho[mas] Dekker, [Thomas Middleton], The Honest Whore. […] (4th quarto), London: […] Nicholas...
Noun obsolete, slang
- Care, anxiety, trouble, sorrow.
- Though there bee A thousand cares that heape my hoe. - 1567, George Turberville, “A. Sani di Cure Aunsweres”, in Heroycall Epistles of Ovid, 155v:
- Him that..this gentlewoman is in such a hoe about. - 1798, Charlotte Turner Smith, The Young Philosopher, I. 195:
- But by day to the zun they must rise To their true lives o' tweil an' ov ho. - 1869-70, William Barnes, “The Widow’s House”, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:
Origin
From Middle English howe, houwe, hoȝe, from Old English hogu and hoga, from Proto-Germanic *hugô, *hugiz, *huguz (“mind, thought, understanding”), akin to Old High German hugu, hugi (Middle High German hüge), Old Saxon hugi (Middle Dutch höghe, Dutch heug), Old Norse hugr, Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐍃 (hugs).
Forms
Verb intransitive, slang
- To act as a ho, to prostitute.
- She holds down a decent job during the day, but is secretly hoeing around with at least 5 different trifling men. - 2003 November 18, Greywolf Johnson, “Do you know any of these? ”, in alt.strange.days (Usenet):
Forms
Verb obsolete, slang
- To care, be anxious, to long.
- To ho for anything, to long for any thing. Berks. - 1787, Francis Grose, “Ho”, in A Provincial Glossary: […]:
- (3) To long for anything; to be careful and anxious. West. - [1846, James Orchard Halliwell, “HO”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth...
- But still ’tis happiness to know ¶ That there’s a God above us; ¶ An’ he, by day an’ night do ho ¶ Vor all ov us an’ love us. - 1869–1870, William Barnes, The Bells of Alderburnham, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset...
Origin
From Middle English howen, hoȝen, hogien, from Old English hogian, hugian, from Proto-Germanic *hugjaną. Cognate with Middle Scots huik, Old High German hucken, Old Saxon huggjan, Dutch heugen, Old Norse hyggja, Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hugjan).