pants
- trousers(def 1).
- underpants, especially for women and children; panties.
- British. men's underpants, especially long drawers.
- wear the pants, to have the dominant role; be in charge: I guess we know who wears the pants in that family.
Origin of pants
pants
- British an undergarment reaching from the waist to the thighs or knees
- Also called: trousers a garment shaped to cover the body from the waist to the ankles or knees with separate tube-shaped sections for both legs
- bore the pants off informal to bore extremely
- scare the pants off informal to scare extremely
- British slang inferior
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for wear the pants
pants
n.
trousers, 1840, see pantaloons. Colloquial singular pant is attested from 1893. To wear the pants "be the dominant member of a household" is first attested 1931. To do something by the seat of (one's) pants "by human instinct" is from 1942, originally of pilots, perhaps with some notion of being able to sense the condition and situation of the plane by engine vibrations, etc. To be caught with (one's) pants down "discovered in an embarrassing condition" is from 1932.
Idioms and Phrases with wear the pants
wear the pants
Exercise controlling authority in a household, as in Grandma wears the pants at our house. This idiom, generally applied to women and dating from the mid-1500s, a time when they wore only skirts, equates pants with an authoritative and properly masculine role. Originally put as wear the breeches, it remains in use despite current fashions.
pants
In addition to the idiom beginning with pants
- pants off, the
also see:
- ants in one's pants
- beat the pants off
- caught with one's pants down
- get the lead out of (one's pants)
- kick in the pants
- seat of the pants
- talk someone's arm (pants) off
- wear the pants