Word.ws English Dictionary

hoboe

hoboe is the archaic spelling of hobo.

Meaning of hobo

Noun

hobo (plural hobos or hoboes)

  1. (Canada, US) A wandering homeless person, especially (historical) one illegally travelling by rail or (derogatory) a penniless, unemployed bum.
    • He’d heard the word hobo used for travelers, heard it was short for homeward bound, or homeless boy, or Hoboken having something to do with New Jersey.2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 55
  2. (Canada, US) Any migratory laborer, whether homeless or not.
  3. A kind of large handbag.
    • Avoid bulky styles such as duffle sacks, buckets, doctors' satchels, and hobos.1989, Susan Ludwig, Janice Steinberg, Petite Style, page 46

See all 4 meanings of hobo

Forms of hoboe

pluralhoboes

Questions about hoboe

What is hoboe the archaic spelling of?
Hoboe is the archaic spelling of hobo.

Words near hoboe in the dictionary

  1. hobo stew
  2. hobo stews
  3. hobo stove
  4. hobo stoves
  5. hobodom
  6. hoboe
  7. hoboed
  8. hoboes
  9. hoboglyph
  10. hoboglyphs
  11. hobohemia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hoboe (page history and authors); hobo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hoboe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hoboe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.