breeches

alternative Scotland breeks · alternative Appalachia Southern US britches

1. pluralplural of breech

attributive breech · alternative Scotland breeks · alternative Appalachia Southern US britches

1. historicalpluralplural onlyA garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.

   And how then was the Devil drest? / Oh! he was in his Sunday's best: / His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, / And there was a hole where the tail came through.

   1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 83

   1 more example

   "In the coach in which I rode, there was a vacant seat till our arrival in Birmingham. Leaving Birmingham I found it filled with a fat Englishman, in drab breeches and gaiter boots, the finest specimen of a thorough John Bull that I had seen—weight about sixteen stone. He wore two top coats, a broad brimmed hat, and an enormous red travelling shawl, behind the folds of which his portly double chin was entirely hidden.

   1958 October 28, “Liverpool to London in 1842”, in Railway Magazine, page 682

2. informalpluralplural onlyTrousers; pantaloons.

   But now there's only old Manning, and young William, and a new-fashioned woman gardener in breeches and such-like.

   1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

   Synonyms: trousers, pants