English

Noun

hoss opera ‎(plural hoss operas)

1. Alternative form of horse opera

   • 1947, "Music--As Written," The Billboard, 29 Nov. (retrieved 21 Nov. 2012)

     Dick (Stone City Sue) Thomas just finished work in the Universal hoss opera Cimarron Gunfire. . . .

   • 1995, Louis Decimus Rubin, Jerry Leath Mills, A Writer's Companion,

     By far the more common was the low-budget "hoss opera" or "oater," ground out in relentless numbers by studios such as Universal and Republic, and designed basically for edification of the young, who took them in on Fridays and Saturdays along with the episode of a serial, a cartoon, a newsreel, and perhaps a bouncing-ball sing-along. There were, to be sure, degrees of the oater; a somewhat more subtle version, designed for adult as well as child viewing, was also made.