knee pants

American  

plural noun

1. knee-length pants, especially those formerly worn by boys considered too young to wear full-length trousers (often used as a term symbolizing youth).

   I haven't felt this way since I was in knee pants.

---

Etymology

Origin of knee pants

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

When in knee pants he pushed a pin through his mother's window shade to see a sun eclipse.

From Time Magazine Archive

As a page in knee pants at the Oklahoma legislature, he wrote a critical piece on the state senate, shyly showed it to a reporter.

From Time Magazine Archive

With his parents and six brothers & sisters, Donald toured the U.S. three times before he was out of knee pants.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the common in Lawrence, Mass., a skinny Yankee youngster in knee pants worked his way eellike through an agitated mob to the foot of the bandstand.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sometimes he was a little old boy of fourteen in knee pants and she made him watch his steps.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith