hose
Americannoun
-
a flexible tube for conveying a liquid, as water, to a desired point.
a garden hose; a fire hose.
-
(used with a plural verb) an article of clothing for the foot and lower part of the leg; stocking or sock.
-
(of men's attire in former times)
-
an article of clothing for the leg, extending from about the knee to the ankle and worn with knee breeches.
-
(used with a plural verb) knee breeches.
-
(used with a plural verb) tights, as were worn with, and usually attached to, a doublet.
-
-
British Dialect. a sheath, or sheathing part, as that enclosing a kernel of grain.
-
Golf. hosel.
verb (used with object)
-
to water, wash, spray, or drench by means of a hose (often followed bydown ).
to hose the garden; to hose down the ship's deck.
-
Slang.
-
to cheat, trick, or take advantage of.
-
to defeat decisively.
-
to reject.
-
Chiefly Military. to attack or assault (an area) in order to gain control quickly (sometimes followed bydown ).
-
noun
-
stockings, socks, and tights collectively
-
history a man's garment covering the legs and reaching up to the waist; worn with a doublet
-
socks
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hosesimple
-
hosessimple
-
have hosedperfect
-
has hosedperfect
-
am hosingprogressive
-
are hosingprogressive
-
is hosingprogressive
-
have been hosingperfect progressive
-
has been hosingperfect progressive
Past
-
hosedsimple
-
had hosedperfect
-
was hosingprogressive
-
were hosingprogressive
-
had been hosingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hose
before 1100; (noun) Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch hoos, Old Norse hosa, German Hose; (v.) Middle English: to provide with hose, derivative of the noun
Explanation
A hose is a long plastic or rubber tube that's used for moving a liquid from one place to another. You may use a hose to water your lawn, or to get gas from the pump into your car's tank. Don't use a hose to ingest liquids; use a glass instead. A garden hose is useful for watering plants or washing your car, while firefighters use hoses to spray water on fires. A hose is similar to a pipe, being long, narrow, and hollow, with space for liquid to move through it, although a hose is flexible, and a pipe is commonly made of stiff metal or hard plastic. You can use the word as a verb, meaning "to spray with a hose," or as a noun meaning "sheer stockings."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They are also not conventional air conditioners, which work by removing heat from a room via an exhaust hose or external unit.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Rescuers had provided him with more than ten liters of water to keep him hydrated via a hose and installed a tube to provide him with oxygen.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
A video posted to social media of Hearn's arrest shows him standing near a water-pumping hose that is lying across a footpath and speaking to a woman, before walking away and picking up his bike.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
A giant hose is lifted from the laden ship to the empty one and oil is pumped, sometimes more than a million barrels at a go.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
In fact, he even went so far as to bring an old garden hose up from the basement and sprinkle all the floors that night until the water was an inch deep.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
Born in Nieder-Rehback, Austria-Hungary, 69 years ago, Victor Berger attended the Universities of Vienna and Budapest, arrived in the U. S. in 1878 with $75 in his hosen.
From Time Magazine Archive
He opened a large chest and found underlinen and hosen, a hood with a long peak, and a warm cloak.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
He pulled off Robin’s hosen and carried him into the water, holding and dipping him where the current ran deep.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
He went, and returned again soon, having in his arms my father-in-law's hosen and waistcoat, and said to my wife, 'Your father is done for.'
From Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. II. by Freytag, Gustav
Also, madam, I have laid out for her, for mending of her gowns and for two matins books, four pair of hosen, and four pairs of shoes, and other small things, 3s. 5d.
From Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Power, Eileen
Farmers in tractors tugged water cisterns and aimed hoses at the blaze.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
A captain cautioned his chief that it was too soon to pick up the hoses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
They delivered Coke syrup in 75 gallon stainless steel barrels on trucks, pumped directly into McDonald’s restaurants through hoses to guarantee freshness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
Our team is trying not to get in the way, as we step over the fire hoses while also avoiding debris and broken glass.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
But when a fire became too big, and the fire engines from the next neighborhood had to be called in, they were useless because they could not connect their hoses to your hydrants.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
If people get hosed by, say, a bear market in stocks, taxpayers will end up on the hook supporting them anyway.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
And by 7 a.m., it’s all over: the seafood is gone, the floors are hosed down, and a full day’s business has come and gone before you’ve even had your morning coffee.
From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2025
Firefighters used heavy foam to prevent the fire from spreading further, while other tankers were hosed down to prevent more explosions.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2025
Manjikian said he hosed ash off the roof and out of the gutters, and power-washed the outside walls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2025
I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
Firefighters quickly began hosing down the smoking reactor -- "they didn't let the fire spread," Solovyov said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 2026
In Los Angeles County, local news showed those near the Hughes fire hosing down their homes and yards with water and others rushing to evacuate neighbourhoods.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2025
“I ran up here from Torrance and grabbed what I could,” said Joe, whose pants and boots were soaked with water from hosing down his father’s home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025
Urban Alchemy officials said the worker was hosing the sidewalk to clean feces left by the unhoused person in the video, whom they have subsequently placed in transitional housing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2024
A few were rushing to get out a special edition about the fire, while the rest were on the roof hosing it down with water.
From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
