knee breeches

plural noun

1. breeches.

Word History and Origins

Origin of knee breeches¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Early on, and briefly, waiters were unfortunately tricked out in white wigs and satin knee breeches, a la Versailles-on-the-Venice-canals.

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Even the word “oratory,” from our postmillennial point of view, seems outdated, the rhetorical equivalent of knee breeches and frock coats.

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John Quincy Adams was the first president to ditch knee breeches for long pants on his big day, in 1825.

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But this isn’t the architectural equivalent of requiring federal workers to wear knee breeches and a tricorn hats.

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He is wearing a black gown and not a wig or knee breeches or silk stockings like those in the other portraits.

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