Meanings
alternative pedal-pushers
- pluralplural onlyWomen's casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves.First known use mid 20th c.
I will always remember the floral broadcloth blouse, pedal pushers, sun hat, and cotton sneakers she wore while picking strawberries.
2021 September 16, Charles Harbison, “Always the Gold Sandal”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Apr 20233 more examples
Medium close shot of a tall slender girl of fifteen with the face of a Nordic madonna. no, proclaims the apron attached to the waistband of her ragged pedal pushers; no, no, the patches over her budding breasts.
1948 August, Aldous Huxley, “The Script”, in Ape and Essence, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 96He drove beneath a canopy of elms, then along a stretch of open shore, then past the municipal docks, where a woman in pedal pushers stood casting for bullheads.
1987, Tim O’Brien, “Speaking of Courage”, in The Things They Carried […], Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence, published 1990, →ISBN, page 127Tall and handsome, Ms. [Cherry] Jones, 53, was wearing pedal pushers and a gray T-shirt but had kept on her high-buttoned Mrs. Warren boots. Her manner was not unlike her outfit: forthright, unaffected, a little playful.
2010 September 5, Charles McGrath, “Single, and singular, women become her”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2022
- pluralplural of pedal pusher
Synonyms & antonyms
noun(used in the plural) snug trousers ending at the calves; worn by women and girls
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From pedal pusher (“cyclist”) + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns), as they were originally worn by cyclists.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans trapperbroek
- trapperbroekwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
Arabic ضاغط قدمي
- ضاغط قدميwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
Finnish pohjehousut
- pohjehousutwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
French legging, pantacourt
- leggingwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
- pantacourtwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
Hungarian halásznadrág
- halásznadrágwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
Polish rybaczki
- rybaczkiwomen’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
Cite this entry
pedal pushers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pedal%20pushers
“pedal pushers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pedal%20pushers. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pedal pushers,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pedal%20pushers.
Source: pedal pushers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.