balbriggan
Americannoun
noun
-
a knitted unbleached cotton fabric
-
(often plural) underwear made of this
Etymology
Origin of balbriggan
First recorded in 1855–60; after Balbriggan, town in Ireland, where first made
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.
Stripped to a suit of balbriggan underwear in one scene, Clark Gable reveals a paunch.
From Time Magazine Archive
After a pause, Aunt Selina got up heavily and went upstairs, coming down soon after with a bundle covered with a green shawl, and with a white balbriggan stocking trailing from an opening in it.
From When a Man Marries by Rinehart, Mary Roberts
She steps over the stile and her shin defines itself through her balbriggan stocking.
From A Christmas Garland by Beerbohm, Max, Sir
Egyptian cotton is very fine and is used mainly in the manufacture of thread and the finer grades of balbriggan underwear.
From Commercial Geography A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges by Redway, Jacques W. (Jacques Wardlaw)
But fancy the shock to one’s æstheticism at seeing coarse balbriggan allied to barbaric splendour.
From A Woman's Journey through the Philippines On a Cable Ship that Linked Together the Strange Lands Seen En Route by Russel, Florence Kimball
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.
