See also: Hoss

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Non-rhotic pronunciation of horse. See also 'oss in English dialects with H-dropping.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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hoss (countable and uncountable, plural hosses)

  1. (Southern US, slang) Pronunciation spelling of horse.
    • 1922, Max Brand [pseudonym; Frederick Schiller Faust], Alcatraz[1]:
      "Them hosses are feeling their oats," said McGuire. "Can't tell what they'd be up to the minute I turned my back on 'em. Might jump that old fence and be off, for all I know."
    • 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 563:
      “That ole black hoss let out a whinny.”
  2. (Southern US, slang) A big, strong and respected or dependable person, usually a man; one who is large like a horse.
    • 2004 December 8, Susan Reinhardt, “Facing my fear: Doing Disney with the crowds”, in Asbury Park Press, page 18:
      So here I was, fondling all sorts of fine mats, when a hoss of a woman screeched into her cell phone, rattling the lamps in the light fixture aisle.
  3. (Southern US, slang, often capitalized) Term of address for a man.
    What's up, hoss?
  4. (Northwestern US, slang) A car.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Anagrams

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Adverb

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hoss

  1. form removed with the spelling reform of 1959; superseded by hvordan

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Adverb

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hoss

  1. (pre-2012) alternative form of korleis