See also: Pants and -pants

EnglishEdit

 
Pants (US, Canada, Australia, etc.)

PronunciationEdit

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /pænts/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ænts

Etymology 1Edit

Shortened from pantaloons (trousers). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

NounEdit

 
Pants (United Kingdom)

pants pl (plural only)

  1. (chiefly Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, North West England) An outer garment that covers the body from the waist downwards, covering each leg separately, usually as far as the ankles; trousers. [from 19th c.]
    • 1933, Kenneth Roberts, Rabble in Arms, 1996, page 220:
      “But they cover the legs,” Joseph explained. “That is the only reason my people wear pants: to cover the legs in the winter, or when traveling through rough country, full of thorns. In warm weather, or in open country, pants are unnecessary, uncomfortable, and foolish.”
    • 1989, Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One, Penguin (2006), page 427:
      Then he gave me a last desperate push and I tripped over the shorts caught around my ankles and fell down. I tried to pull my pants up with my boxing gloves but without success. [] In those days nobody wore underpants and I was bare-arsed and fancy free in front of everyone.
    • 2010, Ronald C. Eng (editor), Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, 8th Edition, The Mountaineers Books, US, page 24:
      Look for pants with reinforced seats and knees and full-length side zippers that make it possible to put the pants on while you are wearing boots, crampons, skis, or snowshoes.
    • 2005, Octavia E. Butler, Fledgling, page 12:
      I rolled up the legs of the pants, then I went back into the trees.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
      The episode also opens with an inspired bit of business for Homer, who blithely refuses to acquiesce to an elderly neighbor’s utterly reasonable request that he help make the process of selling her house easier by wearing pants when he gallivants about in front of windows, throw out his impressive collection of rotting Jack-O-Lanterns from previous Halloweens and take out his garbage, as it’s attracting wildlife (cue moose and Northern Exposure theme song).
    • 2014 January 13, “Blackburn man hid machete down his trousers”, in The Lancashire Telegraph[2]:
      Taylor was seen nearby and had a three foot machete down his pants.
  2. (chiefly UK) An undergarment that covers the genitals and often the buttocks and the neighbouring parts of the body; underpants. [from 19th c.]
    • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, p. 39:
      I decided to pass up her underclothes, not from feelings of delicacy, but because I couldn't see myself putting her pants on and snapping her brassière.
    • 1976, Nathan H. Azrin, Richard M. Foxx, Toilet Training in Less Than a Day, 1988, page 127:
      Big girls get candy for dry pants.
    • 1984, Martin Amis, Money, Vintage (2005), page 183:
      As she bent over the intercom the little skirt went peek-a-boo and you could see white pants cupping her buttocks like a bra.
  3. (UK, slang) Rubbish; something worthless.
    You're talking pants!
    The film was a load [or pile] of pants.
SynonymsEdit
HyponymsEdit
long pants
short pants or underwear
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
  • Japanese: パンツ (pantsu)
    • Mandarin: 胖次 (pàngcì)
    • Korean: 빤스 (ppanseu)
TranslationsEdit

AdjectiveEdit

pants (comparative more pants, superlative most pants)

  1. (Britain, slang) Of inferior quality, rubbish.
    Your mobile is pants — why don’t you get one like mine?
    • 2015, T. R. Richmond, What She Left[3], Penguin Books, page 39:
      'Is that what you're going to do when you graduate?' he asked. 'Be a photographer?'
      'I wish, but I'm pants at the technical stuff. ...'
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

VerbEdit

pants (third-person singular simple present pantses, present participle pantsing, simple past and past participle pantsed)

  1. To pull someone’s pants down; to forcibly remove someone’s pants.
    • 1948, University of California, Carolina Quarterly, page 47:
      Keith Gerber has been pantsed twice already this summer by Lannie and Cling, and so his face is more resolved, the fear tempered by the fact that he understands these things to be inevitable.
    • 1980, William Hogan (author), The Quartzsite Trip, Atheneum, page 242:
      [T]he other boys, Stretch Latham and Rod Becker mainly, pantsed him, got his jockey shorts away and threw them onto Hubcap Willie’s roof.
    • 1993, Harold Augenbraum, Ilan Stavans, Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories, page 174:
      Richard did not stand too close to him, because he was always trying to pants him, and he would have died of shame if he did it tonight, because he knew his BVDs were dirty at the trap door.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

NounEdit

pants

  1. plural of pant

Etymology 4Edit

VerbEdit

pants

  1. third-person singular simple present indicative of pant

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

LatvianEdit

EtymologyEdit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

PronunciationEdit

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NounEdit

pants m (1st declension)

  1. verse, stanza (section of poem or song lyric)
  2. (law) paragraph, article, clause (section of legal document)

DeclensionEdit

SpanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From English track pants.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈpants/ [ˈpãn̪t̪s]
  • Rhymes: -ants
  • Syllabification: pants

NounEdit

pants m pl (plural only)

  1. (Mexico) joggers (athletic trousers); sweatpants
  2. (Mexico) tracksuit

SwedishEdit

NounEdit

pants

  1. indefinite genitive singular of pant.