hosing

[ hoh-zing ]

noun

, Slang.

1. an act or instance of being taken advantage of or cheated.
2. an act or instance of being attacked or defeated decisively; drubbing:

   Small investors took a hosing in the recent stock-market decline.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hosing¹

hose + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

L’OréalThe salon experience would be nothing without a luxurious scalp massage—and the hosing down that comes with it.

From Popular-Science

It contained robot arms moving wafers, motors that accelerated the reticle—that big piece of glass that holds the pattern—to 32 times Earth’s gravity, and fully 100,000 parts, 3,000 cables, 40,000 bolts, and two kilometers of hosing.

From MIT Technology Review

The fire was out now, the firefighter hosing down the last embers, going through the crowd and checking for injuries.

From Project Gutenberg

He turned and shouted something at the fire-fighter, but he was already hosing down something else.

From Project Gutenberg

The night crew was moving through the empty Main Street, hosing down the streets, sweeping, scrubbing.

From Project Gutenberg

Many greenhouse insects can be kept more or less in check by careful and effective hosing of the plants at proper times.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• blackmail
• deceit
• deception
• extortion
• fraud
• hoax
• racket
• ripoff
• shakedown
• sham