rubber pants

English

Etymology

From rubber +‎ pants. First sense arose in the 1920s due to the garment being made from latex—which is used to make rubber.

Noun

rubber pants pl (plural only)

1. Plastic pants.
   • 1922 June 20, United States Patent Office, “Index of patents issued from the United States Patent Office, 1921”, in Commissioner of Patents Annual Report‎^[1], page 1245:

     Rubber pants for infants' wear.

   • 1973, Michael J. Clark, “You're Taking…Who?…Where?”, in John Monroe Bennet, editor, Backpacker‎^[2], volume 1, number 3, Do's and Don'ts for Backpacking with Infants, page 31:

     Don't stint on clothes for the infant. Use every corner of your pack for extras. If an infant becomes wet because of leaky rubber pants or something like that, he's got to be changed in a hurry.

   • 2022 April 12, Jack Challoner, editor, 1001 Inventions That Changed the World, Thunder Bay Press, →ISBN, page 645:

     Forgoing rubber pants for nylon and skipping paper entirely, Donovan created the "Boater" in 1946. Donovan's simple nylon diaper covers far surpassed rubber pants for one simple reasons—diaper rash.

2. Pants made from latex or rubber.

Synonyms

(plastic pants):

• diaper cover (Canada and United States)
• diaper wrap (Canada and United States)
• nappy cover (UK and Commonwealth)
• nappy wrap (UK and Commonwealth)
• pilchers (Australia and New Zealand)
• waterproof pants

Coordinate terms

(plastic pants):

• rubber panties (now rare)