ho
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: ipa: /həʊ/
ipa: /hoʊ/
rhymes: -əʊ
homophone: hoe
homophone: hoh
Etymology: From Middle English ho, hoo (interjection), probably from Old Norse hó! (interjection, also, a shepherd's call). Compare Dutch ho, German ho, Old French ho! (“hold!, halt!”).
Senses: examples: text: Sail ho!
translation: Another boat is visible!
english: Another boat is visible!
text: Land ho!
translation: Land is visible!
english: Land is visible!
text: Man ho!
translation: A town is visible!
english: A town is visible!
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Used to attract attention to something sighted, usually by lookouts.
examples: text: What noise there, ho?
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
text: Ho! who's within?
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:
text: O ho, O ho! Would't had been done!
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: Ho! all ye females that would live unshent, / Fly from the reach of Cyned's regiment.
ref: 1597, [Joseph Hall], “(please specify the page)”, in Virgidemiarum, Sixe Bookes. First Three Bookes, of Tooth-lesse Satyrs. […], London: […] Thomas Creede, for Robert Dexter, →OCLC:
text: "That was a shot! But the captain will be glad! Ho, ho, here we are!" he cried till it was re-echoed from all the hills around.
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 93:
text: "So I catch you. You stealer! Ho! Ho!"
ref: 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 11:
text: "How such swooning daughters can do it, constantly fainting and having hysterics, is a mystery to me," said Muriel Jane. "Ho, they're a pretty sly lot," said Silvander Dan.
ref: 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 24:
glosses: halloo; hey; a call to excite attention, or to give notice of approach.
examples: text: "I'll hit you again, you thief !” he cried angrily, shaking “Ho-ho-ho!” he croaked.
ref: 1900, Ching Foo, the Yellow Dwarf; Or the Bradys and the Opium Smokers, page 2:
text: It was quite an astonishing show. Colonel Paul Malone of the U.S. Army kept thwacking away with all his might and main, shouting "Ho!"
ref: 1955, John Sack, From Here to Shimbashi - Volume 637, page 172:
text: Mona: Hee! Ha! Ho! Ha! The brain buffet is closed, buddy! Take that! And this!
ref: 1999, Mona the Vampire, "Attack of the Living Scarecrow" (season 1, episode 1a)
text: Ho! Take that vile Foresythe!” He snapped his wrist, clicking the stick against the bowed sides of a barrel.
ref: 2008, Daniel Hellmund, The Answer for Laria, page 93:
glosses: Said accompanying a vigorous attack.
Derived terms: ho there
soho