Hosepipe

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A length of flexible tubing intended for transporting water to various locations for gardening or cleaning purposes
2. An adaptable conduit used primarily for directing water flow to plants or areas needing maintenance
3. A flexible tube designed to carry water for irrigation or cleaning tasks in various outdoor settings

Etymology: Hosepipe is a plain compound, and its story is mostly about the two halves. "Hose" comes from Old English "hosa," a close-fitting covering for the leg, and by the medieval period it had come to mean the stockings and breeches worn together. Its use for a flexible tube for conveying liquid is a later extension, drawn from the idea of something long, pliable and fitted over or along another thing. "Pipe" comes from Old English "pīpe," a tube or conduit, ultimately from a Latin source that imitated the sound of a shrill whistle. Put together, the two words describe a flexible tube for carrying water, the sense that now dominates the term. The compound simply joins the two ideas, and nothing about it is coined or altered beyond that joining.

Synonyms: garden hose, flexible tube