board shorts

British

plural noun

shorts with longer legs, originally meant to protect a surfer's legs against the surfboard

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

According to the actor, a hotel employee had refused him service because he was wearing only board shorts.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2023

Building the brand, however, doesn’t require people to actually take road trips; they just need to identify with the road-trip lifestyle, much the way not everyone who wears board shorts actually surfs.

From New York Times • Jun. 11, 2022

Meanwhile, her husband wore board shorts and sunglasses.

From Fox News • Aug. 23, 2021

Some teams did wear leggings and long sleeves under their uniforms on the cooler nights in 2012, dismaying the London tabloids, but even then most opted for the traditional board shorts and bikinis.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 27, 2021

They’re in board shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops.

From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023