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A stocking, sometimes referred to as hose, is a close-fitting, variously elastic garment covering the foot and lower part of the leg. Stockings vary in color and transparency. By analogy, the term is also used to describe a type of horse marking in which the white coloring extends from the horse's hoof to just above the knee.

In modern usage, stocking specifically refers to the form of women's hosiery configured as two pieces, one for each leg. The term hold-ups and thigh highs refers to stockings that stay up on their own, while the word stockings is the general term or refers to the kind of stockings that need a suspender belt (garter belt, in Am English), and are quite distinct from tights or pantyhose (Am English). Thigh highs are often perceived as preferable to pantyhose for various reasons, such as

Stockings and hosiery are worn primarily by women, although they are also sometimes worn by men.

Stockings are typically supported in one of three ways. The most common way is to wear a garter belt, which is a piece of lingerie that goes around the waist like a belt and has suspenders or 'stays' that clip to the tops of the stockings to hold them in place. The second most common means of support is via 'stay-up' technology, where the inside of the top of the stockings has added to it a band (typically silicone) of elastic but highly tractive material that resists slipping down the thigh. This is considerably less reliable in the sense of assuring that the stockings do not fall down, and depends a great deal on the geometry of the actual leg. Further, the elastic can be uncomfortably tight, leaving red marks and possibly aggravating varicose veins. The least common means of support is the circular elastic garter that is slipped up over the top of the stocking and which is intended to hold the stocking by essentially clamping it to the leg. These are the garters typically seen at weddings. They have much the same disadvantages as 'stay-ups'.

source:www.amazines.com