hoe

Meanings

Noun

• An agricultural tool consisting of a long handle with a flat blade fixed perpendicular to it at the end, used for digging rows.
• Alternate spelling of ho.
• A piece of land that juts out towards the sea; a promontory.
• The horned or piked dogfish.

Verb

• To cut, dig, scrape, turn, arrange, or clean, with this tool.
• To clear from weeds, or to loosen or arrange the earth about, with a hoe.
• Alternate spelling of ho.

Origin

• From Middle English howe, from Anglo-Norman houe, from Frankish *hauwā (compare Middle Dutch houwe), from Frankish *hauwan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną. More at hew.
• From non-rhotic whore.
• From Middle English hough, hogh, from Old English hōh.