▪ I. hoe, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(həʊ)
Forms: 1 hóh, hó, (3–6 hogh), 5– howe, 7–8 haw(e, 5– hoe, hooe, hoo.
[OE. hóh, hó, str. masc. (gen. hós, dat. hóᵹe, hó, pl. hós) the same word as the northern heugh (and app. the same as ho n.1 heel):—OTeut. type *hanho-, from ablaut stem of hang v.]
‘A projecting ridge of land, a promontory’ (Sweet); ‘originally a point of land, formed like a heel, and stretching into the plain, perhaps even into the sea’ (Kemble); a height enduring abruptly or steeply: cf. heugh. Now only in the names of particular places, as The Hoe at Plymouth, The Hooe near Chipping Camden, Hoo in Kent, Bedfordshire, etc.; and frequent as a second element in place-names, as Martinhoe, Morthoe, Pinhoe, Trentishoe, in Devonshire, Aynho, Ivinghoe, Stanhoe, Wyvenho, elsewhere.
[OE. hó would normally give hoo (həʊ), which it has given in some of these cases. The hoe (huː) in other parts, may be derived from the OE. dative hóᵹe, giving ME. hoȝe, howe, how, pronounced like grow, stow. Of this hawe may have been a dialectal form: cf. the phonology of hoe n.2, where we have also howe, haw, hoe. In the north of England, there is sometimes confusion between -hoe and -how from ON. haugr: see how n.2]
| ? c 700 Charter (13–14th c. copy) in Kemble Cod. Dipl. I. 45, xl. terrae illius manentes ubi Hogh nuncupatur [= Hoo, co. Kent]. c 850 Munster Glosses (Kluge Ags. Leseb. 9) Promontorium, hooh. 972 Charter in Kemble III. 79 Of hrischeale to ðam ho. 988 Ibid. 236 Ðanon to Aelfriðe ho. a 1000 in Cockayne Narrat. Angl. Conscr. 24 Ða hean hos and dene and garsecg ðone æthiopia we ᵹesawon. 14.. Liber Sharbur. in Spelman Gloss. s.v. Hoga, Edwinus inuenit quendam collem et hogum petrosum, & ibi incipiebat ædificare quandam villam, & vocauit illam Stanhoghiam, quæ postea vocabatur Stanhowe [Stanhoe]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 10 The westerne Hogh, besprincled with the gore Of mighty Goëmet. 1602 Carew Cornwall (1811) 4 Upon the Hawe at Plymouth is cut out in the ground the portraiture of two men, with clubs in their hands, whom they term Gog and Magog. 1612 Drayton Polyolb. i. 13 That loftie place at Plimmouth call'd the Hoe [rime go]. 1797 Polwhele Hist. Devonsh. I. 46 The hill between the town of Plymouth and the sea, that we call the Haw. |
▪ II. hoe, n.2
(həʊ)
Forms: 3–9 howe, 5 howwe, 6 houe, 7 haw, 7–8 haugh, 7–9 how, hough, 8– hoe.
[a. F. houe (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.: houë in Cotgr.):—OHG. houwâ (in MHG. houwe, mod.G. haue), hoe, mattock, pick-axe, f. houwan to hew. The spelling hoe (due to the falling together of -ōw, -oe, in pronunciation, as in flow, floe) appeared in 18th c., and became the ordinary form c 1755. How, hough, are still dialectal; the Sc. is howe (hʌu, hou), riming with Sc. pron. of grow, knowe, etc.]
1. An agricultural and gardening tool, consisting of a thin iron blade fixed transversely at the end of a long handle; used for breaking up or loosening the surface of the ground, hoeing up weeds, covering plants with soil, and the like.
| [c 1284 Hist. et Cart. Mon. Gloucest. (Rolls) III. 219 Quod sint in curia, becchiæ, howæ, civeræ, et alia minuta utensilia.] 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 344 The yngliss host Arme thame in hy..With..Pykis, howis, and ek staff-slyngis. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. vi. (1869) 139 Of a bisshopes croos he made his howwe and his pikoyse. Pikoise was þe sharpe ende, and howwe was þe krookede ende. c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 265 Now schal I telle ȝow of þe howe or a pek-ex wherwyth ȝe muste stubbe out þe grauel. 1573 Tusser Husb. xlvi. (1878) 98 A houe and a parer..to pare away grasse and to raise vp the roote. 1606 L. Bryskett Civ. Life 66 Which to cut downe or roote vp, many sithes and howes would scarce suffice. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. Apr. (R.), Remember to weed them..and a little after to thin them with a small haugh. 1674 Ray S. & E. C. Words 68 A How: pronounced as mow and throw: a narrow iron rake without teeth, to cleanse Gardens from weeds. 1678 Anne Bradstreet Poems 6 Ye husband⁓men, your coulters made by me, Your houghs, your mattocks. 1694 Westmacott Script. Herb. 182 It may be the better weeded with a Haw. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 132 With my haugh, or hoe, in my hand. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. vi. lxxxiv. 382 A gardiner once threw a hough at him. 1764 Grainger Sugar Cane ii. (R.), Let the hoe uproot Th' infected cane piece. 1884 Pae Eustace 70 Busy with hoe and rake amongst the flowers. |
b. With qualifications, indicating the shape, the mode of use, etc. In respect of the latter, the chief distinction is that of draw-hoes (the original type) and thrust-hoes (as in the Dutch hoe). The name is also extended, as in horse-hoe, to machines of various kinds which do the work of several hoes in stirring up the soil between plants, etc.
bayonet hoe, a form of draw-hoe, with the blade narrow and pointed much in the form of a trowel-bayonet (Cent. Dict.). Dutch hoe, scuffle hoe, kinds of thrust-hoes. Spanish hoe, Vernon hoe: see quot. 1855.
| 1731 [see horse-hoe]. 1744 [see hand-hoe]. 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. i. 16 The Beck-hough, is an instrument differing from the common Pick-axe or Mattock, only by having its two Ends about four Inches broad. Ibid. 17 This common Hough (the hand-hough) with which we hough all our Turneps, etc., and..the Dutch Hough, to hough between the close Rows of drilled Wheat, are of prodigious Value to the Farmer. Ibid. iv. 52 This Dutch Hoe is..most conveniently fitted to hoe the Weeds up between the Drills of Wheat, Barley, etc. 1822 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (1834) 519 Hoes are of two species, the draw⁓hoe and the thrust-hoe, of each of which there are several varieties..The Spanish hoe..Pronged hoes [etc.]. 1834 D. Low Elem. Pract. Agric. (1843) 130 The mattock-hoe of the countries of the East. 1855 C. M'Intosh Bk. of Gard. II. 38 The best hoe, when deep-stirring the soil between drilled crops is performed, is the Spanish hoe..or the Vernon hoe. |
2. A dentist's excavating instrument, shaped like a miniature hoe. (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875.)
3. attrib. and Comb., as hoe-handle, hoe-helve, hoe-work; hoe-armed adj.; † hoe-break = horse-hoe. Also hoe-plough.
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. i. 8 There are three Sorts of Hough Horse-breaks, actually in use. Ibid. 9 This Hough-break is light in itself. 1764 Grainger Sugar Cane i. 288 Might not the plough that rolls on rapid wheels, Save no small labour to the hoe-arm'd gang? 1817 Scott Let. to Southey 9 May, All sort of spade-work and hoe-work. |
▪ III. hoe, n.3 Obs. exc. dial.
[Later form of OE. hoᵹu, ME. hoȝe, howe, how n.1, q.v. Cf. ho v.3]
Care, anxiety, trouble.
| 1567 Turberv. tr. Ovid's Ep. 155 b, Though there bee a thousand cares that heape my hoe. 1798 Ch. Smith Yng. Philos. I. 195 Him that..this gentlewoman is in such a hoe about. 1875 Parish Sussex Gloss. s.v., I doänt see as you've any call to putt yourself in no such terrible gurt hoe over it. |
▪ IV. hoe, n.4 local.
[a. ON. há-r (Da. haa) dog-fish, shark.]
The name, in Orkney and Shetland, of the Picked Dog-fish, Squalus acanthias.
| a 1804 G. Barry Hist. Orkney Isl. (1805) 296 The Piked Dog-Fish..known by the name of the hoe, frequently visits our coasts. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 400 The Picked Dog-Fish..among the Scotch islands..is called Hoe. |
b. Comb., hoe-mother (contracted hoe homer), the Basking Shark, Selachus maximus; hoe-tusk, the Smooth Houndfish, Mustelus hinnulus.
| a 1804 G. Barry Hist. Orkney Isl. (1805) 296 The Basking Shark..has here got the name of the hoe-mother, or homer, that is the mother of the dog-fish. 1809 A. Edmonstone View Zetland Isl. II. 304 Squalus Mustelus..Hoe-tusk, Smooth Hound.—Frequently met with in the bays. |
▪ V. hoe, v.1
Forms: see hoe n.2
[f. hoe n.2]
1. intr. To use a hoe; to work with a hoe.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. viii. (1869) 140 He sigh that folk howweden and doluen aboute the cherche. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 199 Weed and haugh betimes. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xiv, The slaves..were at work hoeing. 1894 R. Bridges Feast of Bacchus i. 39 Here I find you, digging, hoeing. |
2. trans. To weed (crops) with a hoe; to thin out (plants) with a hoe; to ‘cultivate’ with a hoe.
| 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. vi. II. 155 Asparagus..must be carefully howed, or cleared of Weeds. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. ix. 393 Chinese, who had been hoeing rice in the neighbourhood. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 243 Peas, properly drilled, and carefully hoed. 1858 Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 81/1 Spinach..is finer when hoed out to six-inch distances. |
3. To break or stir up (the ground) with a hoe, so as to loosen the surface and destroy weeds; to dress with a hoe. See also row n.1 6 b, c.
| 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 44 Walks that..would take up too much Time to hough and rake. a 1746 E. Holdsworth Rem. Virgil 121 (Jod.) To hough the land in the spring time. 1858 Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 133/2 Hoe the ground between the young evergreens and deciduous plants. |
4. with adv. To dig up, raise up, take away, cut down, cover in, with a hoe.
| 1699 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (ed. 9) 56 Rake away what you pull or Haugh up. 1707 Sloane Jamaica I. p. lxiv, When the Potatoes are full grown, they hough up the roots. 1788 Trans. Soc. Arts VI. 93, I..hoed them in at the last hoeing about the middle of May. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 339 Exposed to the frosts during the winter, from the earth being hoed away from them. 1885 Gardening 13 June 183 Dig them [sow thistles] in if you can, but in any case hoe them down. 1886 Cassell's Fam. Mag. May 337 This done, hoe up the soil between the rows. |
Hence hoed (həʊd) ppl. a. Also ˈhoeable a.
| 1643 New Plymouth Laws 74 By ymproved lands are understood meddow land plowed land and howed lands. 1740 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. xi. (1822) 138 The wheat..may not be hoeable before the winter is past. 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. iii. 27 There is no such Necessity for deep Houghing, lest the houghed Turneps up⁓set and grow again. 1879 Scribner's Monthly Dec. 239/2 The owner has only to give it a year of ordinary cultivation, taking from it..some profitable hoed crop. |
▪ VI. hoe, v.2 U.S.
(həʊ)
[f. hoe-down.]
To dance or play a hoe-down.
| 1835 Gent's Vade-Mecum (Phila.) 21 Mar. 3/5 ‘Pooh!’ replied his panting rib, hoeing it off like a regular Juba, ‘don't be a nigger all the days of your life.’ 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. |
▪ VII. hoe
var. heo, hi prons., ho.