Meanings
- pluralplural onlyPlastic pants.
Rubber pants for infants' wear.
1922 June 20, United States Patent Office, “Index of patents issued from the United States Patent Office, 1921”, in Commissioner of Patents Annual Report, page 12452 more examples
Don't stint on clothes for the infant. Use every corner of your pack for extras. If an infant becomes wet because of leaky rubber pants or something like that, he's got to be changed in a hurry.
1973, Michael J. Clark, “You're Taking…Who?…Where?”, in John Monroe Bennet, editor, Backpacker, volume 1, number 3, Do's and Don'ts for Backpacking with Infants, page 31Forgoing rubber pants for nylon and skipping paper entirely, Donovan created the "Boater" in 1946. Donovan's simple nylon diaper covers far surpassed rubber pants for one simple reasons—diaper rash.
2022 April 12, Jack Challoner, editor, 1001 Inventions That Changed the World, Thunder Bay Press, →ISBN, page 645 - pluralplural onlyPants made from latex or rubber.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From rubber + pants. First sense arose in the 1920s due to the garment being made from latex—which is used to make rubber.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
rubber pants. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rubber%20pants
“rubber pants.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rubber%20pants. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rubber pants,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rubber%20pants.
Source: rubber pants on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.