hose

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun socks and stockings and tights collectively (the British include underwear)
  2. noun 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. noun a flexible pipe for conveying a liquid or gas

Etymology

From Middle English hose (“leggings, hose”), from Old English hose, hosa (“hose, leggings”), from Proto-West Germanic *hosā, from Proto-Germanic *husǭ (“coverings, leggings, trousers”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover”). Cognate with West Frisian hoas (“hose”), Dutch hoos (“stocking, water-hose”), German Hose (“trousers”); also, Tocharian A kać (“skin”), Russian кишка́ (kišká, “gut”), Ancient Greek κύστις (kústis, “bladder”), Sanskrit कोष्ठ (koṣṭha, “intestine”). More at sky. The clothing senses were the original meaning, from which is derived the sense of a tube for fluids.

In classic literature

Synonyms

hosiery

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