Home and hosed

‘Home and hosed’ has the same meaning as the slightly earlier ‘home and dry’, which is rather counter-intuitive as being hosed and being dry are hardly compatible. Both phrases are Australian in origin and not especially old.

The allusion in both phrases is to a situation when one has finished one’s allotted task, got home, had a shower, dried off (or not) and relaxed.

‘Home and dry’ is found in Australian newspapers from around the 1910s.

The first example in print of ‘home and hosed’ that I can find is from the Melbourne newspaper The Age, October 1948, in a report of a golf tournament:

Although one round is still to be played, Victoria is a home and hosed proposition in the Inter-State golf matches being played.