fire hose
B2Neutral to technical; metaphorical use is informal.
Definition
Meaning
A high-pressure hose used by firefighters to deliver water to extinguish fires.
A metaphor for an overwhelming, intense, or uncontrolled flow of information, data, or tasks.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
The term is a compound noun. Its literal meaning is concrete and technical. Its metaphorical meaning, common in business and tech contexts, describes something that is difficult to manage due to its volume or force.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant difference in literal meaning. Spelling remains 'fire hose' (two words) in both. The metaphorical usage is equally common in both varieties.
Connotations
Literal use carries connotations of emergency, control, and force. Metaphorical use connotes being overwhelmed, a lack of filtering, and potential waste.
Frequency
The literal term has moderate frequency. The metaphorical usage has high frequency in business, management, and IT discourse.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
[verb] + the fire hose (e.g., deploy, aim, hold)a fire hose + [preposition] + [noun] (e.g., of data, of information)fire hose + [noun] (e.g., fire hose effect)Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “Drinking from a fire hose (experiencing an overwhelming influx).”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Metaphor: 'The new sales leads are a fire hose; we need a system to prioritize them.'
Academic
Rare; may appear in engineering or disaster management papers discussing equipment.
Everyday
Literal: 'The firefighters quickly unrolled the fire hose.'
Technical
Literal specifications: 'The pump must deliver 500 gallons per minute through the fire hose.'
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The crew will fire-hose the blaze from a safe distance. (rare, non-standard)
American English
- They had to fire-hose the deck to cool it down. (rare, non-standard)
adverb
British English
- Information came in fire-hose fast. (highly informal, rare)
American English
- The data was arriving fire-hose quick. (highly informal, rare)
adjective
British English
- He gave a fire-hose presentation, far too much data in ten minutes. (metaphorical, informal)
American English
- We're dealing with a fire-hose problem of customer feedback. (metaphorical, informal)
Examples
By CEFR Level
- The fire hose is very long.
- Firefighters use a fire hose.
- They connected the fire hose to the hydrant.
- The water from the fire hose is very powerful.
- The new social media analytics tool provides a fire hose of raw data that needs careful filtering.
- During the drill, they practised unrolling and aiming the fire hose.
- The start-up's growth was so rapid that onboarding felt like drinking from a fire hose for new employees.
- The journalist was criticised for using a fire-hose approach, dumping unverified details into the story.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Imagine trying to drink from a FIRE HOSE – it's impossible to handle the forceful, overwhelming stream. This captures the metaphorical meaning perfectly.
Conceptual Metaphor
INFORMATION IS A LIQUID / AN OVERWHELMING FLOW IS A FIRE HOSE.
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid direct calque 'огненный шланг'. The correct translation is 'пожарный шланг'.
- The metaphor 'drinking from a fire hose' is often translated as 'получать информацию в огромных, неконтролируемых количествах'.
Common Mistakes
- Spelling it as one word: 'firehose' (less common, though sometimes accepted).
- Using the metaphor in overly formal contexts where it may seem too colloquial.
Practice
Quiz
What does the idiom 'drinking from a fire hose' typically express?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The standard spelling is two words: 'fire hose'. The one-word variant 'firehose' is sometimes seen, especially in metaphorical or brand-related contexts, but 'fire hose' is preferred in formal writing.
Not in standard usage. The rare, non-standard verb 'to fire-hose' (hyphenated) means to drench or direct a high-pressure stream at something, but it is informal and not found in dictionaries.
It originates from the mid-20th century, likely in American business or engineering slang, visualising the difficulty of managing a forceful, high-volume stream of water as analogous to managing a flood of information.
It is generally negative or cautionary, highlighting an unmanageable, inefficient, or stressful situation. However, it can be neutral when simply describing a high-volume data feed (e.g., 'the Twitter fire hose API').