Hoe

/hoʊ/ name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: Any of various tools for scraping, scratching, digging, or stirring soil or other materials.; An agricultural and horticultural hand tool consisting of a long handle with a flat blade fixed perpendicular to it at the end, used for digging rows or removing weeds by hand.
  • Grammar: hoe is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: backset, cultivate, cultivate, cultivating tool.
  • Useful contrasts: hand trowel, mattock, neglect.
  • Usage evidence: Make the hoe your sword, and the sword your hoe.

How to use "hoe"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hoe" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hoe" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hoe" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hoe" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "hoe" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "backset" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "hoe", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of various tools for scraping, scratching, digging, or stirring soil or other materials.; An agricultural and horticultural hand tool consisting of a long handle with a flat blade fixed perpendicular to it at the end, used for digging rows or removing weeds by hand.

    "For their organic row crops, they do the weeding with hoes. They get in there often, but it goes fast, and the weeds never get ahead."

  2. 2
    Alternative spelling of ho (“whore, prostitute”). alt-of, alternative, derogatory, slang

    "Then we split to the Cafe Black Rose / To party with some hoes"

  3. 3
    A piece of land that juts out towards the sea; a promontory.
  4. 4
    The horned or piked dogfish, Squalus acanthias. Orkney, Shetland
  5. 5
    a tool with a flat blade attached at right angles to a long handle wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Any of various tools for scraping, scratching, digging, or stirring soil or other materials.; Any of several implements or machines usually called by their more specific names, for example, backhoe.

    "The grading is on hold. In the meantime, get that hoe over here and work on this utility trench. [Instructions issued to a worker who will operate a backhoe]"

  2. 7
    A sexually loose woman wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To cut, dig, scrape, turn, arrange, or clean, with this tool. ambitransitive

    "to hoe the earth in a garden"

  2. 2
    Alternative spelling of ho (“to prostitute”). US, alt-of, alternative, slang

    "Pimpin’ came so naturally to MT when he and his sisters played pimp and hoe games that one of his sisters wanted to hoe for him when they grew up."

  3. 3
    dig with a hoe wordnet
  4. 4
    To clear from weeds, or to loosen or arrange the earth about, with a hoe. transitive

    "to hoe corn"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A village and civil parish in Breckland district, Norfolk, England (OS grid ref TF995211).
  2. 2
    A surname.

Antonyms

hand trowelmattockneglectrespectable woman

Example

"Make the hoe your sword, and the sword your hoe."

Common questions

What does "hoe" mean?

Any of various tools for scraping, scratching, digging, or stirring soil or other materials.; An agricultural and horticultural hand tool consisting of a long handle with a flat blade fixed perpendicular to it at the end, used for digging rows or removing weeds by hand.

What is a synonym for "hoe"?

Common synonyms include: backset, cultivate, cultivate, cultivating tool, cultivator, culture.

How do you use "hoe" in a sentence?

Make the hoe your sword, and the sword your hoe.

How do you pronounce "hoe"?

Pronounced /hoʊ/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English howe, from Anglo-Norman houe, from Frankish *hauwā, derivative of Frankish *hauwan (“to hew”), from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną. More at hew.

Etymology 2

From a non-rhotic pronunciation of whore.

Etymology 3

From Middle English hough, hogh, from Old English hōh.

Etymology 4

Cognate with Dutch haai (“shark”), qv.

Etymology 5

From Old English hōh (“heel; spur of a hill”).

Etymology 6

Two main origins: * A variant of Ho, a Vietnamese surname. * An English habitational surname, from the village in Norfolk.

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