canions

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A form of canion — One of a pair of fitted tubes of cloth worn in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries below short trunk hose and above stockings to cover the leg in between them, sometimes joined to the hose (sometimes reduced to ornamental rolls terminating the legs of the hose), and sometimes joined to each other as breeches worn under the hose.

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Meanings

noun
  1. pluralplural of canion (“leg clothing”)

    c. 1615–1657, Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, i. 4. Come, you are so modest now, 'tis pity that thou wast ever bred to be thrust through a pair of canions; thou wouldst have made a pretty foolish waiting-woman, but for one thing.

    5 more examples

    Slops or beeches without canions or nether-stocks.

    1585, J. Higins, Nomenclator

    chausses à queue de merlus — round breeches with strait canions.

    1611, Cotgrave, (Please provide the book title or journal name)

    For nought fears he backbiters' nips in doublet or in canions.

    1611, R. Richmond, preface to Thomas Coryat, Coryat's Crudities

    "Canions" seem to be always associated with wide breeches of the "trunk-hose" class—sc. "French" or "round" hose, generally "paned"—or "gally-gascoynes", and impression definitely confirmed by Covarrubias y Horozco. [...] an article (a) tubular in structure, (b) appended to shortish wide breeches, (c) covering the lower thigh and knee. With these postulates before us we are immediately reminded of a very characteristic feature of masculine costume which makes its appearance in contemporary art just about the date when canions begin to be noticed by writers. […] stockings are depicted as drawn up and secured indifferently outside [Plate, A, (a)] or inside (Figs. 1 and 2B) the canions. […]

    1918, F. M. Kelly, “What are 'canions'?”, in The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, page 106

    (Trunk-hose are either worn with long cloth stockings sewn to them, or—from about 1570—they are equipped with canions.) For a while they appear to have lost […] Fig. 633. Canion Nether stocks were 'curiously knitte with open seam down the […]

    2013, Herbert Norris, Tudor Costume and Fashion, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 634
  2. pluralplural of canion (“canyon”)

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

CannoisCansino
Cite this entry
APA

canions. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/canions

MLA

“canions.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/canions. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “canions,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/canions.

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