hose
Americannoun
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hose,
plural
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hoses,
plural
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hosen
plural (Archaic)
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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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hoses,
present (3rd person singular)
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hosed,
past participle, past
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hosing
present participle
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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
-
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:
Other pitfalls just have to be forgiven, like when Abrams has to explain how he’s feeling with an air hose between his teeth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
A polite middle-aged man raised my hood, duct-taped the hose, and followed me as I limped to a service station.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
A battalion chief ordered crews to remove the hose anyway, The Times reported in October 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
"We understand this affects local residents, with a hose laid across pavements and driveways, and apologise for the frustration this causes," it said.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
I switch the fuel hose over to the next tank, squeeze the primer bulb, and yank on the starter cord, thinking, pleasepleaseplease start.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
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 Gustav Freytag
"But I am much wanting an errand done at the Cloverlove plantation, and if you would do it, I will, with the ninepence, give a pair of hosen that will stand you well."
From Maid Sally by Harriet A. Cheever
During the fire’s rapid spread, the water system quickly lost pressure as crews drew heavily on hydrants, residents ran sprinklers and hoses, and water gushed out of melted pipes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
"We're still short of hoses, which makes it hard for us to extinguish this fire."
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
English summers are increasingly marked by a once rare ritual: water companies imposing monthslong bans on the use of garden hoses, leaving a nation of gardeners to hand-water their gardens or watch their plants die.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The community "were brilliant", she said, and pulled together to put out flames, using hoses in gardens, while waiting for fire crews who were dealing with other incidents.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
In the hours before the explosion, workers had laid out fire hoses in preparation for the seawater injection, but those had been damaged by the blast.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
As the country raged that the Broncos got hosed, the man in charge of the team took the high road.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
For example, water is being hosed onto the greens during the opening two rounds to stop them from drying out, and to keep the grass alive.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
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
When the steam cleared, she stepped inside and sealed the door behind her, then hosed the cubicle’s cement floor with water and scoured her workbench with alcohol.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
More than 50,000 residents of Garden Grove city were evacuated and fire crews began hosing down the tank in a bid to cool it.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 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
Images from the scene showed an emergency team hosing down the landing gear on a Loganair ATR 72 aircraft, which had been due to depart at 10:05.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025
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
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