hose
Americannoun
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a flexible tube for conveying a liquid, as water, to a desired point.
a garden hose; a fire hose.
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(used with a plural verb) an article of clothing for the foot and lower part of the leg; stocking or sock.
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(of men's attire in former times)
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an article of clothing for the leg, extending from about the knee to the ankle and worn with knee breeches.
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(used with a plural verb) knee breeches.
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(used with a plural verb) tights, as were worn with, and usually attached to, a doublet.
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British Dialect. a sheath, or sheathing part, as that enclosing a kernel of grain.
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Golf. hosel.
verb (used with object)
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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.
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Slang.
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to cheat, trick, or take advantage of.
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to defeat decisively.
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to reject.
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Chiefly Military. to attack or assault (an area) in order to gain control quickly (sometimes followed bydown ).
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noun
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stockings, socks, and tights collectively
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history a man's garment covering the legs and reaching up to the waist; worn with a doublet
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socks
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hosesimple
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hosessimple
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have hosedperfect
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has hosedperfect
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am hosingprogressive
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are hosingprogressive
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is hosingprogressive
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have been hosingperfect progressive
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has been hosingperfect progressive
Past
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hosedsimple
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had hosedperfect
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was hosingprogressive
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were hosingprogressive
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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:
Garden hose in hand, Georges Clivaz sprayed water along a road leading to his property in Saint-Jean-d'Illac in Gironde as the blaze burned a few kilometres away.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 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
Mohsin Qayyum, 22, and Mohammed Yusuf Iqbal, 20, were driving past the house in Kirkstall, Leeds, when they spotted the fire and a man trying to put it out with a hose.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Tyson Foods has reported eight incidents since 2020, including a fatal explosion caused by a ruptured oil hose at a Camilla, Ga., facility in 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The water flowed into the funnel, where it descended through a black hose and settled into a metal container secured to the edge of the building.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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
Also the alder, whose bark is not unprofitable to dye black withal, and therefore much used by our country wives in colouring their knit hosen.
From Elizabethan England From 'A Description of England,' by William Harrison by Harrison, William
In the Bush," said I, "the backwoods aristocracy make little of your silk hosen, Claudia.
From The Little Red Foot by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
The charity said 27 of its staff and volunteers were out helping fight the blaze earlier in the week, using equipment including all-terrain vehicles with water bowsers, backpack hoses and shovels.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Because the covers can conform to complex shapes, they could protect a wide variety of components, including rovers, robotic joints, hoses, and other moving hardware.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Farmers in tractors tugged water cisterns and aimed hoses at the blaze.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
One firefighter picking up hoses on Jan. 2 found crackling red-hot coals in the dirt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
The firefighters charged upstairs, heavy hoses coiled over their shoulders.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
Anyone who bought gold in the late 1970s or early 1980s got hosed — while stocks and bonds boomed.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2025
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
City are never home and hosed this season.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025
A Forest Service report said it could not rule out potential heavy metal impurities in retardant, which was hosed down from firefighting planes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2024
It was as though the room had been designed to be hosed out for efficient cleaning.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
Another instance included allegedly hosing down a congregant’s car.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
The Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and the City of Los Angeles are hosing free watch parties across the region for the World Cup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Firefighters quickly began hosing down the smoking reactor -- "they didn't let the fire spread," Solovyov said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 2026
The prime minister promised back in September to allow veterans to get onto social hosing lists more easily.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
We started walking down the long chamber with all the cages on both sides, and the only other people there were an attendant hosing out the gorilla cage and some woman holding a two-year-old baby.
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
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.
