pair of pants - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

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Pair of pants - Wiktionary, the free dictionary? ›

Noun. A pair of pants (topological space). A single garment that covers one's legs individually with sleeves, and also covers the pelvis.

According to some, the phrase “pair of pants” harkens back to the days when what constituted pants—or pantaloons, as they were originally known—consisted of two separate items, one for each leg. They were put on one at a time and then secured around the waist.

a piece of clothing that covers the lower part of the body from the waist to the feet, consisting of two cylinder-shaped parts, one for each leg, that are joined at the top: a pair of pants.

In the UK pants means underwear. Colloquially if we say something is "Pants" we mean it's rubbish or really bad/not good (bit with vaguely humorous undertones). Therefore "Bag of Pants" would mean something especially rubbish or sub-par.

When trousers of a similar style became popular during the Restoration in England, they became known as pantaloons, Pantaloon being an Anglicization of Pantalone. Fashions changed over the years, but pantaloons continued to be the word used to refer to various types of trousers.

Over time, the two separate leg coverings merged into a single garment, but the plural form of the word "pair" remained, leading to the use of the term "pair of pants" that we still use today. Pants are called a pair because they consist of two separate pieces, one for each leg.

Pants is a shortening of pantaloons, attested from around 1840. The uses of the words seem to have come about when everyone stopped calling them breeches (which you might still here in Appalachia, for example). If you use the word trousers in the US, it probably won't cause confusion.

A pair of pants is singular. Pants, including just one pair, are plural. So we would say, “I love this new pair of pants” but “I love these new pants” referring to the exact same garment.

As a man thus had pairs of trousers, they were pluralized. Later the style changed to complete single units of lower clothing. Actually, pants is a short form of pantaloons. In it's shortened form pantaloons the original word became pants!

A pair of trousers is a singular version of the word trouser as here we are talking about a two-legged piece of clothing you wear on the bottom half of your body. Thus, a pair of trousers is followed by the singular main verb(V₅) or singular helping verb(is, was).

What do British call jeans? ›

British people call daks “trousers”, unless they're talking about jeans specifically in which case they'll more than likely call them “jeans”. Otherwise, it's trousers. Never daks, and never, ever pants. “Pants” are underwear.

In Britain, underwear means any garment that might be worn under clothes; underpants, knickers, bras, camisoles or vests. Knickers (US panties) are women's underpants. They can also be called undies or pants. Pants meaning trousers is very rare in the U.K. and most people would consider this a strictly American usage.

UK slang humorous. an exclamation that is used to show that you are annoyed, or disagree with something someone has said.

(idiomatic, colloquial) To have sex with someone, especially for the first time. quotations ▼

By 100 AD, the wearing of pants was still considered odd in the Roman world, but Romans did introduce the wearing of a particular type of pants called braccae. This style of legwear had a drawstring.

In the US, chips are what the Brits call crisps: tiny, thin slices of potato friend or over-baked until they are slim and crunchy. In the US, your pants are your trousers: what you wear over your legs. In the UK, pants are what you wear under your trousers (your knickers or underwear!).

It is used to convey disappointment or dissatisfaction with something, similar to saying "that's rubbish" or "that's nonsense." The origin of this phrase likely comes from the British slang use of "pants" to refer to underwear, especially men's briefs or boxer shorts.

Think of it this way. How many “main body parts” go into the item? One body part goes into a shirt—the trunk. Two body parts go into a ”pair of shorts”—your legs.

[Middle English, from Old French paire, from Latin paria, equals, pl. of pār, a pair, from pār, equal; see perə-² in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: The noun pair can be followed by a singular or plural verb.

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.