bloomers
Britishplural noun
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informal women's or girls' baggy knickers
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(formerly) loose trousers gathered at the knee worn by women for cycling and athletics
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Also called: rational dress. history long loose trousers gathered at the ankle and worn under a shorter skirt
Etymology
Origin of bloomers
from bloomer , a garment introduced in about 1850 and publicized by Mrs A. Bloomer (1818–94), US social reformer
Vocabulary lists containing bloomers
You Name It: Eponyms
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Some Obscure Eponyms
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"Winter Dreams," Vocabulary from the short story
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr Lynch and his daughter were said to have lived in the vicinity of London, and the Bloomers lived in Sevenoaks in Kent.
From BBC • May 9, 2025
Bloomers, sometimes called Turkish trousers or pantaloons, were revolutionary back then, an alternative to uncomfortable full skirts.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 1, 2022
Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Outliers, first wrote about Fountain in an article for the New Yorker titled Late Bloomers in which he called Fountain a genius.
From The Guardian • Sep. 30, 2018
The Bloomers were financially comfortable, lived in a fashionable area and spent summers at Whitefish Lake.
From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2011
The Bloomers figured extensively in the anti-slavery amalgamation convention, and were rather looked up to, but their intemperate ideas would not be tolerated in the temperance meeting at the Brick Chapel....
From The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Harper, Ida Husted
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
