Definition

1. Noun:

   • A flexible tube for conveying liquids or gases: A hose is a flexible pipe, typically made of rubber, plastic, or fabric, used to carry water, air, or other fluids from one point to another.
   • A type of historical legwear: In historical fashion (16th-17th centuries), hose refers to close-fitting garments covering a man's legs and waist, worn with a doublet.
   • (Archaic/British) Stockings or socks: Collectively, hose can refer to leg coverings like socks, stockings, and tights. In some British usage, this historically included underwear.

2. Verb:

   • To water or wash using a hose: The action of using a flexible tube to spray water or another liquid onto something, such as a garden or a surface.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • We need a longer hose to reach the back of the garden. (Referring to a flexible pipe for water.)
  • The knight's attire included hose and a doublet. (Referring to historical legwear.)
  • She bought new hose for the winter. (Referring to stockings or tights.)

• Verb:

  • Please hose down the driveway to clean it.
  • I hose the plants every evening during the summer.

Advanced Usage

• "to hose off": to clean or remove something by spraying with water from a hose.

  • After playing in the mud, the children hosed off their boots.

• "to hose someone/something down": to drench or wash thoroughly with a hose.

  • The firefighters hosed down the smoldering debris.

Variants and Related Words

• Hose reel (n): A cylindrical device for storing and winding a hose.
• Hose pipe (n): Another term for a hose, especially a water hose.
• Hosiery (n): A collective term for stockings, socks, and tights; the modern term related to the "stockings" sense of .
• Hosed (adj., informal): Slang meaning cheated, defeated, or in a bad situation. (Note: This is a derived informal usage, not the core definition).

Synonyms

• Pipe or tubing (for the flexible tube).
• Water or spray (for the verb action).
• Stockings or tights (for the legwear sense).

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Hose down: To wash or drench with water from a hose.
  • Hose down the patio before the guests arrive.

Related Idioms

• (Informal) "to get hosed": To be cheated or treated unfairly.
  • We really got hosed on that deal. (This idiom stems from the informal adjectival use, not the core word).

Noun

1. a flexible pipe for conveying a liquid or gas
2. man's close-fitting garment of the 16th and 17th centuries covering the legs and reaching up to the waist; worn with a doublet
3. socks and stockings and tights collectively (the British include underwear)

Verb

1. water with a hose
   • hose the lawn