Meanings
- informalinitialismpluralplural onlyUnderpants; usually, men's underpants.
He's free as a breeze He's always at ease He lives in the jungle And hangs by his knees As he swings through trees Without a trapeze In his BVD's.
1969, “Gitarzan”, Ray Stevens, Bill Everette (lyrics), performed by Ray Stevens3 more examples
The dealers apparently got a big inventory and since the war all nobody seems to be buying pajamas. Learned to sleep in their ‘BVDs’ during the war years in the armed services all these young men did.
1953, Richard Bissell, “7½ Cents”, in Atlantic, Little, Brown, page 53Thus, the light switched on, there was Einhorn in his BVDs, wasted arms freckled, grizzled hair afly from his face that was inclined to flatness, the shrewd curved nose and clipped mustache.
1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter V, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, pages 64–65We frolicked like dolphins – Graeme and I in shorts and Bob in his B.V.D.'s – and then stretched out on the ancient waveworn shingle to let the sinking sun dry and warm us.
1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, New York, published 2007, page 97
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From the initials of an early manufacturer: Bradley, Voorhees & Day (founded 1876).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
BVDs. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/BVDs
“BVDs.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/BVDs. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “BVDs,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/BVDs.
Source: BVDs on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.