Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ho n.1

also hoe, who, whoe
[black pron. of SE whore]

1. a generic term describing any woman [ostensibly neutral, but the undertones of its ety. still make it controversial].

[US]R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 36: You go over to a who’s house (any woman is a ‘who’) and say, ‘lookahere, bitch, when I say jump you jump’.
[US]W. King ‘The Game’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 304: Let me cop a Benny Franklin until my whoe brings me some dough.
[US]R.D. Pharr Giveadamn Brown (1997) 61: ‘You two ’ho’s still pushing your meth?’ she said conversationally.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 143: We call all young lady bitch or ’ho. But not to dey face.
[US]Ice-T ‘Six in the Morning’ 🎵 As we walked over to here hoe continued to speak.
[US]Snoop Doggy Dogg ‘Ain’t No Fun’ 🎵 So how the fuck am I supposed / to pay this hoe, just to lay this hoe.
[UK]Observer Mag. 15 Aug. 8: Women are routinely referred to as ‘bitches’ and ‘ho’s’.
[US]W. Shaw Westsiders 53: ‘Hoes’, a popular corruption of ‘whores’, is loosely used to mean most of womankind.
[US]50 Cent ‘In da Club’ 🎵 When you sell like Eminem, and the hoes they wanna fuck / But homie ain’t nothing change, hoe’s down, G’s up.
E. Phelts Hunter and Ashby 149: Nikki pushed Ace away and stepped to Paulines face. ‘Who you calling bitch, you nappy-headed crack ho!’.
[UK]Times (London) 12 Apr. 2/7: An American ‘shock-jock’, has been suspended from his show on CBS Radio [...] after calling members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team ‘nappy-headed hos’.

2. (orig. US black) a prostitute.

[US]W. King Jr. ‘The Game’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out (1972) 392: ‘Let me cop a Benny Franklin until my whoes brings me some dough,’ I said.
[US]F. Elli Riot (1967) 130: They’re always talkin’ about their ‘white hoes’ like every white whore on the street is hustlin’ for a shine [...] Those jailhouse spooks are all the same – big-time pimps.
[US]N. Heard Howard Street 15: ‘Whore’ – he pronounced it ‘Ho’ – ‘I said gimme my money back’.
[US](con. 1945) M. Angelou Gather Together In My Name 162: When you turn the first trick, you’ll be a ’ho. A stone ’ho.
[US]A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 7: Wasn’t every chick a potential ho?
[US]N. Heard House of Slammers 7: It’s gittin’ cold as a black whoe’s heart in this yard.
[US]O. Hawkins Chili 43: A perverse streak of ’hoe that I had sensed in her.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 95: Now one day Dolomite took a stroll / Run on Mabel, Queen of the hos.
[US]W. Shaw Westsiders 53: Killing Hoes Over Pussy. That’s what Khop’s name stood for.
[UK]Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 51: ‘Iz nt mine, gt out u hoe’.
[UK]Guardian 10 July 3: He [...] labelled a conservative female columnist a ‘skanky ho’, or dirty prostitute.
[US]A. Steinberg Running the Books 55: You fucking cunt ass ho, you got the stinkiest damn pussy in this whole place.
[US]A. Steinberg Running the Books 59: She also informed me [...] that ‘hoes makes the best librarians’.
theculturetrip.com ‘Guide to London Slang 10 Jan. 🌐 Ho – another word for slag, prostitute.

3. (US gay) a passive sexual partner.

[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 146: passive partner [...] hoe (black sl = whore).

4. a person indiscreet in sexual matters.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 5: ho – indiscreet and promiscuous in sexual matters, usually a male.

5. (US black) a sexually promiscuous man.

[US]Boogie Down Prods ‘Super Hoe’ 🎵 The super hoe is loose in your section / and he’s armed with a powerful erection / So grab your girl and run for protection.
[US]G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 87: See him? The little ho will go with anyone [...] Just like his father.
[US]S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 129: [of a homosexual man] ‘You’ve got to stop being a ho if you want a husband’.

6. (US black/campus) a promiscuous or seductively dressed young woman.

[US]P. Munro Sl. U. 108: ho 1. slutty woman, whore, promiscuous woman.
[US]Source Nov. 83: Hos [...] the female who usually gets ‘test driven’ with no feelings, no respect, no nothing.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Fall 5: HO – A female thought to be promiscuous.

7. a girlfriend.

[US]Da Bomb Summer Supplement 8: Ho [...] 2. (n.) (Offensive, derog.) Girlfriend.
[UK]Guardian Guide 8–14 Jan. 26: I went with my new hoe, Astrid.
[US]C.W. Ford Deuce’s Wild 7: You know when we got here, his ’ho was here too. At least I think she’s his ’ho.
[US]M. Lacher On the Bro’d 246: ‘You’re a totally dickless pussy if you ever put a ho before a bro’.

8. (US black) a coward, i.e. a man who acts like a woman.

[US] in Source June 34: I refuse to be a hoe.
[US]F.X. Toole Rope Burns 150: He a ho what he was, a ho looking for Santa Claus, a little gangsta punk looking for a sugar daddy. Scared of white boys, too.

9. an unfriendly person, either male or female.

Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 hoe [...] 2. an unfriendly person, usually a female. (‘She is such a hoe’.).
[UK]Guardian Guide 22–28 Jan. 28: The ho has problems, I’m telling you.
[US]J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 236: ‘You two-faced ho! Y’all got my goat, m’kay? Y’all done curried my motherfucking goat!’.

10. (US campus) a form of friendly address.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Fall 5: HO – a friend: ‘What’s up, HO?’.
[US]Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 7 Aug. 25/5: ‘Hey slut / (ho) Wanna go shopping?’.

In compounds

ho-ass (adj.) [-ass sfx]

(US black) a general term of address, used of a man .

[US]Dr Dre ‘Bitch Ass Niggaz’ 🎵 That’s what’s wrong with you niggaz, you niggaz is just like bitches / Hoe-ass niggaz, talk too motherfuckin much.
ho-bag (n.)

(US) a derog. term for a woman.

[US]Post-Standard (Syracuse N.Y.) 15 Feb. B1/4: If it’s a girl, you might call her a ho or ho bag. It stems from whore, but don’t get too literal [OED].
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 3: ho – sexually promiscuous female. Also ho-bag.
[US]J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 169: You can’t just kill her! She’s not some ho-bag, man, she’s the mayor.
[US]T. Fey Mean Girls [movie script] [S]he may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing, slut-faced ho-bag. But in reality, she is so much more than that.
ho-bitch (n.) [bitch n.1 (1a)]

(US campus) a general negative when applied to any woman .

[US]Da Bomb Summer Supplement 8: Ho-bitch (n.) {Vulgar} A girl who is disliked.
ho boots (n.)

(US black) ostentatiously sexy, high, tight, high-heeled woman’s boots.

S. Shonagon Pillow Book 🌐 I did get to see the Zeffirelli production of La Bohéme at The Met, and I did get to buy some ‘ho’ boots at Macy’s on the East Coast.
ho-catcher (n.)

(US black) a smart suit.

[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 30: Play your ass off in any and all of them sixty ’ho catchers hanging in my closet.
ho check (n.)

(US prison) an emotional/physical trial of strength to determine one’s courage or lack of it.

[US]J.E. Lawson Last Burn in Hell 16: The two women stare each other down briefly, mad-dogging it [...] For a second it looks like hoe check time.
ho jockey (n.) [jockey n.2 (4b)]

(US black) a successful pimp or womanizer .

[US]Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 hoejockey Definition: someone who pimps a lot of bitches or macks a lot; a very reputable playa Example: Shit nigga, picture me rollin down Beach Blvd. like a mothafuckin hoejockey; all tha bitches be up on my shit.
ho layer (n.) [lay v.1 (1)] (US black)

1. one who conducts most (or all) of his sex life with prostitutes.

[US]cited in C. Major Juba to Jive (1994).

2. a womanizer, a ladies’ man.

Project Pat ‘Run a Train’ 🎵 on Ghetty Green [album] It’s the drink player, ho layer, money making bitch breaker / Take a ho straight to the room and I save a spot for my row dogs.
ho stroll (n.) [stroll n. (2)]

(orig. US black pimp) the street or streets in a town or city where prostitutes work regularly .

[Can]Western Canadian Jrnl Anthropology 3 108: The streetwalker, as her name implies, walks the street in the recognized sections of a town, ‘the ho stroll,’ or stands on a particular street corner or in a doorway.
[US]R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
[UK]‘Q’ Deadmeat 19: They’d get rarsed up the batti in a car [...] Then they’d be back on the hoe stroll.
[US](con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 101: Ya got a ho stroll in this burg?
[US]T. Hernandez Flint 2: Working Girls 150: She walked the track, trying to pick up her next john. She had only been on the ho stroll for a couple of hours, and she almost had six hundred dollars.
ho train (n.)

(US black) a group of prostitutes that accompany their pimp on the street.

[US]Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 hoe train Definition: a pimp’s ladies that follow behind him, or arm-in-arm, in a train-like form. Example: Being a truly badass pimp, i own the longest hoe train on the block.