balbriggan

American  

[bal-brig-uhn] / bælˈbrɪg ən /

noun

1. a plain-knit cotton fabric, used especially in hosiery and underwear.

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balbriggan British  

/ bælˈbrɪɡən /

noun

1. a knitted unbleached cotton fabric

2. (often plural) underwear made of this

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Etymology

Origin of balbriggan

First recorded in 1855–60; after Balbriggan, town in Ireland, where first made

Example Sentences

Stripped to a suit of balbriggan underwear in one scene, Clark Gable reveals a paunch.

From Time Magazine Archive

Or perhaps the clothes he wears beneath—the inner mesh and very balbriggan of his attire—is of so hard a texture that it turns a tooth.

From There's Pippins and Cheese to Come by Brooks, Charles S. (Charles Stephen)

Below the dam, in a blue balbriggan bathing suit, stood James Minturn, his hands filled with a big piece of sod which he bent and applied to a leak.

From Michael O'Halloran by Stratton-Porter, Gene

Then, in all the glory of his brown balbriggan undershirt, he stood up in the aisle.

From Abroad at Home American Ramblings, Observations, and Adventures of Julian Street by Street, Julian

Ordinary Peruvian cotton has a fibre nearly two inches long; it is used in the manufacture of hosiery and balbriggan underwear, and also to adulterate wool.

From Commercial Geography A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges by Redway, Jacques W. (Jacques Wardlaw)