Hoe Meaning
/həʊ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny of various tools for scraping, scratching, digging, or stirring soil or other materials.
nounAny 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.
Sentence Examples
Make the hoe your sword, and the sword your hoe.
Be careful when working with a hoe.
CEFR Practice Quiz
To remove weeds from the garden, she used a sharp ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The gardener used a sharp long-handled ____ to remove the weeds between the rows of vegetables.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English howe, from Anglo-Norman houe, from Frankish *hauwā, derivative of Frankish *hauwan (“to hew”), from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną. More at hew.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Then we split to the Cafe Black Rose / To party with some hoes"
— 1973, “Spoon”, in Hustler's Convention, performed by Lightnin' Rod:
"Fuck all you hoes.
Get a grip, motherfucker."
— 1994, 0:00 from the start, in Juicy (Hip Hop), spoken by The Notorious B.I.G.:
"[…] this chapter […] will […] explore why pimp (and hoe) characters, with their dramatic staging of gendered and occupational relations […] have taken such hold of the black youth imagination"
— 2002, Eithne Quinn, Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap:
"At school they had been among the only couples that had not done “it” at the Pimp & Hoe parties that popped up occasionally at the dorm"
— 2003, Dan Harrington, The Good Eye:
"On the podcast, Gaines and his co-host Walter Weekes (Fresh), regularly refer to women as “hoes” or 304s (304 on an upside-down calculator looks like the word “hoe”)."
— 2023 June 9, John Mac Ghlionn, “The new Andrew Tate: Toxic ‘manosphere’ podcaster claims ‘all women are whores’”, in New York Post:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
To remove weeds from the garden, she used a sharp ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The gardener used a sharp long-handled ____ to remove the weeds between the rows of vegetables.