knee breeches
Americanplural noun
Etymology
Origin of knee breeches
First recorded in 1825–35
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.
Early on, and briefly, waiters were unfortunately tricked out in white wigs and satin knee breeches, a la Versailles-on-the-Venice-canals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
He is wearing a black gown and not a wig or knee breeches or silk stockings like those in the other portraits.
From Washington Post ● May 29, 2019
He was the last president to wear the powdered wig and knee breeches of an eighteenth-century gentleman and nearly the last Revolutionary in high office.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
After becoming Speaker in 2009, he updated his own attire by wearing a business suit, rather than the knee breeches and tights worn by his predecessors.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2017
Five or six servants, with powdered wigs, in silk stockings and knee breeches, hover about the table.
From Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign by John Ashton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
