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.
Over time, they made progress, hosing off embers and spot fires.
From BBC • Jan. 12, 2025
He kept hosing: “I could see progress from the helicopters.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2025
“All wasteful water use such as hosing down driveways and impervious surfaces, allowing water to flow unattended and using water in a grossly inefficient manner, is prohibited,” the Southwest Florida Water Management District website says.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 7, 2023
The pre-game festivities featured local pop stars, a military marching band, feathered dancers, a colour guard team and a fire engine driving around the field, hosing off the crowd.
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2023
Marco Rossi was in the third ring, hosing down an elephant and scrubbing her wrinkled gray skin with a long-handled deck brush.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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.
