It's a hard question to answer definitively—because the meaning of "ho/hoe" is affected by its cultural associations. Specifically, many Americans of European ethnicity associate the term with caricatures of African American culture. So, for example, a white kid at a mostly white suburban high school might refer to his or her white girlfriend as a "ho" and automatically embed a jokey faux ...
OED (possibly paywalled) indicates that this use of ho does not predate the twentieth century, and does not list this meaning for hoe at all. Forms: 1900s– ho, 1900s– 'ho, 1900s– ho', 1900s– hoah, 1900s– hoe, 1900s– who', 1900s– whoe. Etymology: Variant of whore n., reflecting a pronunciation frequent in African-American usage. The earliest citation is from 1964. However, ho/hoe ...
etymology - Does the usage of "ho" or "hoe" for "whore" predate the ...
I believe the road/hoe, and the road/hold sayings are the results of mishearing, or purposely changing the original row/hoe saying. Similarly, on occasions, I have changed the expression "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" to "don't lick a sick horse in the mouth" just to get a laugh.
Is it "a tough row to hoe?", or "a tough road to hold?"
Because of the pervasive nature and influence of hip hop language in modern American youth culture, "Bitch" as meaning a vulgar woman, a whore, a "loose" woman, etc, has been replaced by the word "Hoe". Bitch has been relegated to the meaning of a person who is difficult to get along with, in the sense that they complain incessantly.
The second definition in JoeBright's answer is correct: thot is an acronym that stands for "That Ho Over There." The word has a negative connotation and is such sometimes used as an affectionate insult to close friends, but is almost always used to describe women. Ho is commonly misspelled as hoe, but intended as a short form for whore. It's generally considered AAVE, with multiple examples in ...