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hoe

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2011 | Copyright

hoe usually a flat blade, variously shaped, set in a long wooden handle and used primarily for weeding and for loosening the soil. It was the first distinctly agricultural implement. The earliest hoes were forked sticks. Heavy flaked-stone implements mounted with bitumen were used in Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BC They occur together with flint-bladed sickles and grinding stones—all of which are indications of farming settlements. Hoe blades were made of animal antlers and scapulae, or shoulder blades, and of shells. Variations on the hoe, such as the pick, the adz, and the plow , appeared as the blade progressed from stone to copper, bronze, iron, and steel. Modern garden hoes are of two types, the drag hoe and the thrust hoe. Truck farms use light scraping hoes, chopping hoes, and multibladed hoes, and in large-scale agriculture a cultivating implement called a rotary hoe is used for weeding. The hoe symbolizes the garden horticulture that sustained high civilizations, such as those of pre-Columbian America.

Bibliography: See M. Partridge, Farm Tools Through the Ages (1973).

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hoe

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

hoe¹ / hō/ • n. a long-handled gardening tool with a thin metal blade, used mainly for weeding and breaking up soil. • v. (hoes, hoed, hoe·ing) [tr.] use a hoe to dig (earth) or thin out or dig up (plants). ∎ [intr.] use a hoe. DERIVATIVES: ho·er n. hoe² • n. variant spelling of ho¹.

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"hoe." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-hoe005.html

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hoe

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

hoe sb. XIV. ME. howe — (O)F. houe — Frankish *hauwa = OHG. houwa (G. haue), rel. to houwan HEW.
Hence vb. XV.

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T. F. HOAD. "hoe." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "hoe." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-hoe.html

T. F. HOAD. "hoe." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-hoe.html

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Hoe

A Dictionary of British Place-Names | 2003 | | Copyright

Hoe Norfolk. Hou 1086 (DB). ‘(Place at) the ridge or spur of land’. OE hōh (dative hōe).

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A. D. MILLS. "Hoe." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

A. D. MILLS. "Hoe." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O40-Hoe.html

A. D. MILLS. "Hoe." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O40-Hoe.html

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hoe

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

hoe •aglow, ago, alow, although, apropos, art nouveau, Bamako, Bardot, beau, Beaujolais Nouveau, below, bestow, blow, bo, Boileau, bons mots, Bordeaux, Bow, bravo, bro, cachepot, cheerio, Coe, crow, Defoe, de trop, doe, doh, dos-à-dos, do-si-do, dough, dzo, Flo, floe, flow, foe, foreknow, foreshow, forgo, Foucault, froe, glow, go, good-oh, go-slow, grow, gung-ho, Heathrow, heave-ho, heigh-ho, hello, ho, hoe, ho-ho, jo, Joe, kayo, know, lo, low, maillot, malapropos, Marceau, mho, Miró, mo, Mohs, Monroe, mot, mow, Munro, no, Noh, no-show, oh, oho, outgo, outgrow, owe, Perrault, po, Poe, pro, quid pro quo, righto, roe, Rouault, row, Rowe, sew, shew, show, sloe, slow, snow, so, soh, sow, status quo, stow, Stowe, strow, tally-ho, though, throw, tic-tac-toe, to-and-fro, toe, touch-and-go, tow, trow, undergo, undersow, voe, whacko, whoa, wo, woe, Xuzhou, yo, yo-ho-ho, Zhengzhou, Zhou

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

	The right hoe for the right job. Magazine article from: Sunset; 3/1/1993
	Doomsday machine for weeds? it's still a hoe. Magazine article from: Sunset; 7/1/1984
	The Peter Surridge Gardening Club: Get yourself tooled up with revolutionary... Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 11/24/2001