[hoh] 
noun, verb, hoed, hoe⋅ing.| 1. | a long-handled implement having a thin, flat blade usually set transversely, used to break up the surface of the ground, destroy weeds, etc. |
| 2. | any of various implements of similar form, as for mixing plaster or mortar. |
| 3. | to dig, scrape, weed, cultivate, etc., with a hoe. |
| 4. | to use a hoe. |
[hoh] | 1. | Richard, 1812–86, U.S. inventor and manufacturer of printing-press equipment. |
| 2. | his father, Robert, 1784–1833, U.S. manufacturer of printing presses. |
hoe (hō)  (click for larger image in new window) n. A tool with a flat blade attached approximately at a right angle to a long handle, used for weeding, cultivating, and gardening. v. hoed, hoe·ing, hoes v. tr. To weed, cultivate, or dig up with a hoe. v. intr. To work with a hoe. [Middle English howe, from Old French houe, of Germanic origin; see kau- in Indo-European roots.] ho'er n. |
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"As to dancing, no Long-Island negro could shuffle you 'double trouble,' or 'hoe corn and dig potatoes' more scientifically." [Washington Irving, "Salmagundi," March 7, 1807]
hoe
one of the oldest tools of agriculture, a digging implement consisting of a blade set at right angles to a long handle. The blade of the modern hoe is metal and the handle of wood; earlier versions, including the picklike mattock, had stone or wooden blades; the digging stick, precursor of most modern agricultural handtools, was simply a sharpened branch sometimes weighted with a stone. Hoes have largely been replaced in agriculture by plows and harrows but are still commonly used in gardening and horticulture to loosen dirt and to chop weeds. The modern rotary hoe is a sophisticated tool that hoes many rows of a field simultaneously.
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