noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a digging bucket or scoop on the end of an articulated arm, drawn backwards to move earth; used in excavator/digger and backhoe tractors.
2. 2
   an excavator whose shovel bucket is attached to a hinged boom and is drawn backward to move earth wordnet
3. 3
   Ellipsis of backhoe tractor: A specialized tractor with the backhoe subassembly. This type of tractor has been superceded by the backhoe loader and trackhoe in most roles. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
4. 4
   Ellipsis of backhoe loader: A multi-purpose tractor with a front-mounted loading bucket and a rear-mounted digging bucket. The tractor combines a front-end loader/loader (component) and an excavator/digger (component). Australia, Canada, US, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

   "Meronym: front-end loader"

Verb

1. 1
   To excavate using such equipment.

Synonyms

All synonyms

back actorbackhoe endloaderbackhoe loaderbackhoe loaderdiggerexcavator

Example

More examples

"You run that backhoe like a concert violinist plays a concerto."

Etymology

From back + hoe.

Related phrases

backhoe loaderfront end loader

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.