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View synonyms for breeches

breeches

[ brich-iz, bree-chiz ]

noun

, (used with a plural verb)
  1. Also called knee breeches. knee-length trousers none, trousers none, often having ornamental buckles or elaborate decoration at or near the bottoms, commonly worn by men and boys in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries.
  2. Informal. trousers none.


breeches

/ ˈbriː-; ˈbrɪtʃɪz /

plural noun

  1. trousers extending to the knee or just below, worn for riding, mountaineering, etc
  2. informal.
    any trousers
  3. too big for one's breeches
    conceited; unduly self-confident
“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of breeches1

1125–75; Middle English, plural of breech none
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. too big for one's breeches, asserting oneself beyond one's authority or ability.
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Example Sentences

There were men dressed in colonial garb complete with knee-breeches and powdered wigs.

His clothes marked him as a man of the city, for we do not wear shooting jackets, and breeches and leather leggings in our valley.

With them were two civilians, both in rough shooting-jackets and breeches, one about forty-five, the other a few years his junior.

He still wore knee-breeches and dark cotton stockings on his nether limbs, but they were not the breeches.

The Adventure Girls were dressed alike in brown breeches, leather boots, and khaki shirts with brown silk ties to match.

After that home and to bed, reading myself asleep, while the wench sat mending my breeches by my bedside.

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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.

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