View synonyms for breeches

breeches

[ brich-iz, bree-chiz ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

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.
riding breeches.
Informal. trousers none.

breeches

/ ˈbriː-; ˈbrɪtʃɪz /

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

1125–75; Middle English, plural of breech none

too big for one's breeches, asserting oneself beyond one's authority or ability.

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.

April 18, 2024petrichor

[pet-ri-kawr]

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

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