Wiktionary

pedal pushers

See also: pedal-pushers

English

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WOTD – 3 June 2023

Etymology

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A woman wearing pedal pushers.

From pedal pusher (“cyclist”) +‎ -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum and regular plurals of nouns), as they were originally worn by cyclists.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pedal pushers pl (plural only)

  1. (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

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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pedal pushers

  1. plural of pedal pusher

References

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  1. ^ “pedal pusher, n.” under “pedal, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2022.
  2. ^ “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

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