Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A garment for men, extending from the waist to the ankles, covering the lower part of the trunk and each leg separately; originally, tightly fitting drawers; pantaloons. See strossers. In the early part of the nineteenth century long frilled drawers reaching to the ankles were worn by girls and women, and called
trousers . - n. Synonyms Breeches, Trousers, Pantaloons. Breeches are properly short clothes, reaching just below the knee; the use of the word for trousers is erroneous and vulgar. Trousers is the old word for the garment common in Occidental nations to cover the legs of men; many, especially in England, still insist upon the word, and confine pantaloons to its historical sense. Many, however, especially in America, are satisfied with pantaloons (colloquially, pants) for trousers.
Wiktionary
- n. An article of clothing that covers the part of the body between the waist and the ankles, and is divided into a separate part for each leg.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A garment worn by men and boys, extending from the waist to the knee or to the ankle, and covering each leg separately.
Etymologies
- 1610s, earlier trouzes (1580s), extended from trouse (1570s), with plural ending typical of things in pairs, from Gaelic or Middle Irish triubhas "close-fitting shorts," of uncertain origin. The unexplained intrusive second -r- is perhaps by influence of drawers. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“These pumps have been around for years and as winter rolls in, the only way to wear them under trousers is in the darker colors (slightly scuffed), with opaque tights.”
The Wall Street Journal: Does the Shoe Fit? Finding the Perfect Flat
“They already make shirts and trousers from the new fibre and in the Spring, jeans will be put on the market.”
Global Voices in English » Japan: A brief review of the eco-technologies
“Then, suddenly, he -- for it was a man -- swayed back, with a hitch to his skin trousers, and began to sing a chanty, such as men lift when they swing around the capstan circle and the sea snorts in their ears:”
“To school plodding stubbornly through the snowdrifts in short trousers with chapped knees to sit in a draughty classroom in abject fear of a teacher who had recently traversed Europe inside a tank turret and who took no prisoners with his booming voice, the result of his deafness.”
“Nowadays, leading clubs search for players who are still in short trousers, such as Manchester United's signing of Gyliano van Velzen, a 16-year-old from the Netherlands, on a free transfer last month.”
“It's a century which is deceptively familiar - nineteenth century English is much the same as today's, after all, and the men have the common decency to run around in trousers - but also more alien than the far side of the Moon.”
“But instead, he just slipped out of an igloo on a cold Arctic night, pulled down his caribou and sealskin trousers, and defecated into his hand.”
“Having no trousers is a problem, since they seem to be de rigeur here, except for old ladies.”
“I always have a bit more trust in people who were there at the time (and not in short trousers) like Kay.”
“For those in short trousers there may be a chance to start all over again after the liquidation.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘trousers’.
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the curious incident of the dog in th...
words from a novel by mark haddon
dog, garden fork, Wellington, prime, maths, clench, The Hound of the ..., police, dead, bread-slicing mac..., groaning, drawn and 126 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Pants related words
pants, trousers, pantaloons, dungarees, jodhpurs, breeches, chinos, knickers, slacks, chaps, skort, trucks and 1 more...
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Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
Scribble, Newfangled, swift, swathe, budget, obstreperous, trickle, rank, covetous, scratch, hunch, dodge and 179 more...
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miscellany
extrapolate, effluvium, maelstrom, ecclesiastic, potentiate, prestidigitation, verisimilitude, innocuous, octogenarian, interlocutor, proselytize, ubiquitous and 138 more...
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Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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to acquire
moustache, thoughtcrime, lift, overall, razor, strength, oily, gin, oily gin, brotherhood, dull, toward and 108 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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sputnik
canoodle, span, hasten, discombobulate, sputnik, clod, encrusted, spit-shine, zeitgeist, landslide, laid, cherish and 350 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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The Motherland! (God Bless the Queen)
Words that remind me of England, which I miss very much.
snog, nappy, wanker, telly, knickers, crumpet, pants, bum, loo, bollocks, stroppy, whinge and 108 more...
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Below the Belt
Anything worn from the waist down.
chausses, pantaloons, britches, trossers, buckskins, chaps, galligaskins, gregs, gaskins, breeches, knee breeches, knee pants and 93 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for trousers.
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