hosing
Americannoun
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an act or instance of being taken advantage of or cheated.
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an act or instance of being attacked or defeated decisively; drubbing.
Small investors took a hosing in the recent stock-market decline.
Etymology
Origin of hosing
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.
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
Jolie’s father and Nema spent the night of the fire hosing down the house in an attempt to ward off the flames.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2025
Over time, they made progress, hosing off embers and spot fires.
From BBC • Jan. 12, 2025
Chucha is locking up the garage and hosing down the driveway, which seems a strange thing to be doing in the middle of the night.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
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.
