• (RP) IPA: /həʊ/
• (America) IPA: /hoʊ/

1. (nautical) Used to attract attention to something sighted, usually by lookouts.

   Sail ho!

   Land ho!

   Man ho!

2. halloo; hey; a call to excite attention, or to give notice of approach
   • c. 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The VVinters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:

     What noise there, ho?

   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene vi]:

     Ho! who's within?

   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     O ho, O ho! Would't had been done!

   • Ho! all ye females that would live unshent, / Fly from the reach of Cyned's regiment.

• Russian: эй

• Russian: гей

ho

1. A stop; a halt; a moderation of pace.

   • There is no ho with them.

ho (plural hos)

1. anchor E2N1(slang, euphemistic) A whore; a sexually promiscuous woman; in general use as a highly offensive name-calling word for a woman with connotations of loose sexuality.

   Bros before hos!

   • 2010 God Went Fishing page 69 ↗

     "You looking for one of my ho's?" the diminutive man asked Sigmund.
     "A hoe?" Sigmund asked, wondering why the little man wished to sell him farming equipment in the city.
     "You know, a ho. A tute. A honey, A righteous bit of poontang, my brother," he said.
     "I don't follow," Sigmund said.
     "Indubitably, I means a ho, a whore. I can tell you is a player. You want a whore?" he asked.

• See also Thesaurus:promiscuous woman

• French: pute
• German: Hure
• Portuguese: puta, prostituta, vadia
• Russian: шлю́ха
• Spanish: puta, prostituta

ho (plural hos)

1. (obsolete) Care, anxiety, trouble, sorrow.
   • 1567, G. Turberville tr. A. Sani di Cure Aunsweres in tr. Ovid Heroycall Epist. 155v:

     Though there bee A thousand cares that heape my hoe.

   • 1798, C. Smith, Young Philosopher I. 195:

     Him that..this gentlewoman is in such a hoe about.

   • 1869-70, William Barnes, The Widow’s House, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:

     But by day to the zun they must rise To their true lives o' tweil an' ov ho.

   • 1875, W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial (at cited word):

     I doänt see as you've any call to putt yourself in no such terrible gurt hoe over it.

1. (obsolete) To care, be anxious, long.
   • 1787, F. Grose, Provinc. Gloss (at cited word):

     To ho for anything, to long for any thing. Berks.

   • 1847-78, J. O. Halliwell, Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words:

     Ho...to long for anything; to be careful and anxious. West.

   • 1869-70, William Barnes, The Bells of Alderburnham, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:

     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.

   • 1874, T. Hardy, Far from Madding Crowd II. xxiii. 289:

     To ho and hanker after thik woman.

   • 1888, B. Lowsley, Gloss. Berks. Words & Phrases:

     Ho, to long for; to care greatly for.

1. A Central-Eastern Indian Adivasi tribe numbering around 1 million, mainly following the religion of Sarna Dhorom

1. A Munda language spoken in India and Bangladesh.

• Russian: хо

1. (economics) Initialism of Heckscher-Ohlin theorem
2. (UK) Initialism of Home Office

ho (uncountable)

1. (business) Initialism of head office
2. (religion) Initialism of w:holy orders
3. Abbreviation of HO scale#English|HO scale.