knickerbockers

K5N1I1C3K5E1R1B3O1C3K5E1R1S1
UK/ˈnɪkəbɒkəz/US/ˈnɪkɚbɑkɚz/

noun

Men's or boys' baggy knee breeches, of a type particularly popular in the early 20th century.

Similar
breechesknee breechesknee pantsknickers
UncommonScrabble 32

Meanings

knickerbockers1

nounknickerbockers pl (plural only, attributive knickerbocker)

attributive knickerbocker

  1. pluralplural onlyMen's or boys' baggy knee breeches, of a type particularly popular in the early 20th century.

    Five men and a woman, two young girls,[…], and a boy […] are at the machines sewing knickerbockers, “knee-pants” in the Ludlow Street dialect.

    1890, Jacob A[ugust] Riis, “The Sweaters of Jewtown”, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 125
    2 more examples

    […] and some gems that represent the tasseled garment that the leader wears show it in a distinctly religious connection. On a gem from Zakro it [the sistrum] is being being carried by a man who does not wear the loin-cloth, but a baggy kind of knickerbockers like the Moslem trousers of to-day.

    1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 37

    And it was early morning, and the world was moist, when the crystal-gazer's husband, a freak in knickerbockers with an open coppish and a sabbath gamp, came over the stones outside his house to meet the holy travellers.

    a. 1954 (date written), Dylan Thomas, “The Holy Six”, in Adventures in the Skin Trade (A New Directions Paperbook; no. 183), New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing Corporation, published 1969, →ISBN, page 129

Knickerbockers2

noun
  1. archaichistoricalpluralplural of Knickerbocker; New Yorkers, particularly descendants of its original Dutch settlers
  2. uncommonball gamesThe formal name of the New York Knicks, a team in the National Basketball Association
  3. historicalball gamesA short-lived 19th-century baseball team in New York

Synonyms & antonyms

noun(used in the plural) trousers ending above the knee

Similar
breechesknee breechesknee pantsknickers

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

knickerbockers · noun

From Knickerbocker + -s, after the short breeches worn by Diedrich Knickerbocker in George Cruikshank's illustrations of Washington Irving's 1809 A History of New York.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian брич
  • брич (brič)knickerbockers
Chinese Mandarin 燈籠褲 /灯笼裤
  • 燈籠褲 /灯笼裤 (dēnglongkù)knickerbockers
Czech pumpky
  • pumpkyknickerbockers
Danish knæbukser
  • knæbukserknickerbockers
Dutch knickerbocker, zoeavenbroek
  • knickerbockerknickerbockers
  • zoeavenbroekknickerbockers
Finnish polvihousut
  • polvihousutknickerbockers
French knickerbockers, knickers
  • knickerbockersknickerbockers
  • knickersknickerbockers
German Knickerbocker
  • Knickerbockerknickerbockers
Hindi निकर, जाँघिया
  • निकर (nikar)knickerbockers
  • जाँघिया (jāṅghiyā)knickerbockers
  • जांघिया (jāṅghiyā)knickerbockers
Italian pantaloni alla zuava, calzoni alla zuava
  • pantaloni alla zuavaknickerbockers
  • calzoni alla zuavaknickerbockers
Japanese ニッカーボッカー, ニッカボッカ
  • ニッカーボッカー (nikkābokkā)knickerbockers
  • ニッカボッカ (nikkabokka)knickerbockers
  • ニッカーズボン (nikkā-zubon)knickerbockers
  • ニッカズボン (nikka-zubon)knickerbockers
Polish spodenki, pumpy
  • spodenkiknickerbockers
  • pumpyknickerbockers
Punjabi ਨਿੱਕਰ
  • ਨਿੱਕਰ (nikkar)knickerbockers
Russian бри́джи
  • бри́джи (brídži)knickerbockers
Spanish bombacho, bombachos
  • bombachoknickerbockers
  • bombachosknickerbockers
Swedish golfbyxor, knäbyxor
  • golfbyxorknickerbockers
  • knäbyxorknickerbockers
  • äppelknyckarbyxorknickerbockers
Cite this entry
APA

knickerbockers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knickerbockers

MLA

“knickerbockers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knickerbockers. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “knickerbockers,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knickerbockers.

Source: knickerbockers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.