pedal pushers
See also: pedal-pushers
English edit
Etymology edit
From pedal pusher (“cyclist”) + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns), as they were originally worn by cyclists.[1][2]
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɛdl̩ ˌpʊʃəz/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɛdəl ˌpʊʃɚz/
- Hyphenation: ped‧al push‧ers
Noun edit
pedal pushers pl (plural only)
- (originally US) Women's casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves. [from mid 20th c.]
- Coordinate terms: capri pants, clamdiggers
- 1948 August, Aldous Huxley, “The Script”, in Ape and Essence, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 96:
- Medium close shot of a tall slender girl of fifteen with the face of a Nordic madonna. no, proclaims the apron attached to the waistband of her ragged pedal pushers; no, no, the patches over her budding breasts.
- 1987, Tim O’Brien, “Speaking of Courage”, in The Things They Carried […], Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin/Seymour Lawrence, published 1990, →ISBN, page 127:
- He drove beneath a canopy of elms, then along a stretch of open shore, then past the municipal docks, where a woman in pedal pushers stood casting for bullheads.
- 2010 September 5, Charles McGrath, “Single, and singular, women become her”, in The New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-10:
- Tall and handsome, Ms. [Cherry] Jones, 53, was wearing pedal pushers and a gray T-shirt but had kept on her high-buttoned Mrs. Warren boots. Her manner was not unlike her outfit: forthright, unaffected, a little playful.
- 2021 September 16, Charles Harbison, “Always the Gold Sandal”, in The Atlantic[2], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 April 2023:
- I will always remember the floral broadcloth blouse, pedal pushers, sun hat, and cotton sneakers she wore while picking strawberries.
Alternative forms edit
Derived terms edit
- pedal-pusher (attributive form)
Translations edit
women’s casual trousers, usually fairly form-fitting, that end at the calves
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Noun edit
References edit
- ^ “pedal pusher, n.” under “pedal, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022.
- ^ “pedal pushers, plural n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.
Further reading edit
pedal pushers on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
