hoss
noun
ˈhȯs 
ˈhäs
plural hosses
1
informal : horse entry 1 sense 1a(1) —used especially in representations of southern and southwestern U.S. speech
"I went straight to the camp of the cavalrymen, an' found them just coolin' off an' dressin' down their hosses after what looked to me like a big ride."
Zane Grey
Zane Grey2
informal : horse entry 1 sense 7
He [J. J. Watt] is still a hoss. Watt played 91.5 percent of the Texans' defensive snaps last season, the highest of any free agent defensive lineman. Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal
Word History
Etymology
regional variant of horse entry 1 in England and North America
Note: Assimilative loss of /r/ before /s/ is attested in a number of words in early Modern English (compare ass entry 2, bust entry 2, cuss entry 1, and the standard pronunciation of Worcester). R. Jordan finds evidence of the change from ca. 1300 (Handbuch der mittelenglischen Grammatik: Lautlehre, 3. Auflage [Heidelberg, 1968], pp. 150-51).
First Known Use
1815, in the meaning defined at sense 1