A variation on the word "whore", stemming from a regional North American pronunciation of the same word.
Cited by the case
U.S. v. Murphy in the 7th Circuit Court of appeals on page 2, footnote 1
"The trial transcript quotes
Ms.
Hayden as saying Murphy called
her a snitch bitch “
hoe.” A “
hoe,” of course, is a tool used for
weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar
with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden’s
response. We have taken the liberty of changing “
hoe” to “ho,” a
staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris
raps “You doin’ ho activities with ho tendencies.”
"why do you think you take a ho to a hotel?
Hotel everybody, even the mayor
Reach up in tha sky for tha hozone laya
Come on playa once a ho always
And hos
never close they open like hallways
An heres a ho cake for you whole ho crew
an everybody wants some cuz
hoes gotta eat too"
--From "You a Ho" by
Ludacris