long trousersn.
/ˌlɒŋ ˈtraʊzəz/, U.S. /ˌlɔŋ ˈtraʊzərz/, /ˌlɑŋ ˈtraʊzərz/ Trousers which reach to, or almost to, the ankle.
ΚΠ
1755 Hist. Will Ramble I. iii. ii. 230 Pulling a Guinea at the same Time out of the Side of his long Trousers, and flinging it on the Kitchen Dresser.
1831 Mirror of Lit. 29 Jan. 96/2 The lameness of his right foot..was disguised by means of long trousers.
1900 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 4 543 The men on land have short coats and long trousers, those in the ship have long cloaks.
1978 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Apr. 894/2 Wearing knee and elbow pads, gloves, jackets, and long trousers all helps to reduce grazing.
2013 J. K. McMahon Long Way to Goulacullin 76 I was given a blazer and a pair of long trousers. My first pair of long trousers!
Phrases
P1. In various phrases referring (with varying degrees of literal meaning) to the wearing of long rather than short trousers as a mark of increasing maturity, as not yet in long trousers: young, at an early stage of development. Cf. short n. 7d, in short trousers at short adj., n., and adv. Additions.
ΚΠ
1887 N.Y. Times 8 Apr. 4/7 The boys, nearly whole companies of whom were not yet in long trousers, marched with the steadiness of veterans.
1922 A. Stringer Prairie Child 305 [Calgary] impresses me as a frontier cow-town grown out of its knickers and still ungainly in its first long trousers.
1939 Pop. Mech. June 818/2 Air transport is in long trousers now. You buy transportation, not a carnival thrill-ride.
2010 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 7 Oct. 36 Barely in long trousers, he launched his own telecommunications company at the age of 18.
P2. boy (or child) in long trousers: an immature person, or one who is behaving in a childish or childlike manner.
ΚΠ
1902 Quiver Jan. 1094/1 Men and women are but children in long trousers and skirts.
1982 Times 5 Apr. 17/1 While these children in long trousers play their damaging nursery games Borg and his kind are..getting on with the job of playing tennis.
1991 Irish Times 21 Sept. 11/1 This exhibition is not just for small boys, but also for small boys in long trousers.
2007 N.Y. Times 27 Aug. e6/2 All of those musicians were like little boys in long trousers.
P3. in long trousers: (as postmodifying phrase) in a more mature, developed, sophisticated, etc., form.
ΚΠ
1905 G. Tyrrell Let. 30 May (1920) To believe that this terrible machine-world is really from God..and in spite of its blind fatality all works together for good, that is faith in long trousers; the other is faith in knickerbockers.
1996 Times 4 May (TV Guide) 3/3 Baywatch in long trousers as we follow lifeguard Mitch Buchanan in his new career as a private detective.
2002 A. Phillips in J. Scalia Vitality of Objects 53 The future can only be described as, at best, a sophisticated replication of the past; the past in long trousers.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1755