pantsn.
/pants/, U.S. /pæn(t)s/ Originally U.S.† 2. U.S. colloquial = pantalettes n. 1. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. Originally (colloquial): pantaloons. Later: trousers of any kind (in early use applied to men's trousers, but in the 20th cent. extended to include those worn by both men and women).Chiefly North American, New Zealand, Australian, and South African, except in the names of particular styles of trousers, as loon, hot pants, etc.: see the first element.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers
trouse1678
trousers1681
kicks1699
trousiesa1713
brogues1748
inexpressibles1790
unmentionable1791
et cetera1794
indescribable1794
kickseys1819
ineffables1823
indispensablesa1828
unimaginable1833
pantaloon1834
pants1835
inexplicables1836
never-mention-'ems1836
unwhisperable1837
results1839
sit-down-upons1839
sit-upons1839
unmentionabilities1840
innominablea1843
unutterables1843
trews1847
round-the-houses1857
unprintable1860
stovepipe1863
sit-in-ems1873
reach-me-downs1877
strides1889
rounds1893
long1898
kecks1900
rammies1906
trou1911
pants1970
1835 Southern Literary Messenger 1 358 In walked my friend—pumps and tight pants on—white gloves and perfumed handkerchief.
1840 E. A. Poe Peter Pendulum in Burton's Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 88 Standing on one leg three hours, to show off new-touch strapped pants.
1846 O. W. Holmes Rhymed Lesson 515 The thing named ‘pants’ in certain documents, A word not made for gentlemen, but ‘gents’.
1854 ‘C. Bede’ Further Adventures Mr. Verdant Green (ed. 2) x. 89 Seated with wash-leather..like the eleventh hussars..with their cherry-coloured pants.
1893 A. S. Eccles Sciatica 37 Cutting off from a pair of merino pants the leg corresponding to the sound and unaffected limb.
1902 G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant ix. 119 We boys..couldn't walk across the floor without feeling that our pants had hiked up till they showed our feet to the knee.
1916 G. Thornton Wowser 8 A bloke who wears out the knees of his pants on Sundays praying, and another part of his pants all the week backsliding.
1930 H. G. Wells Autocracy Mr. Parham ii. i. 95 He grows more and more independent of the idea that his pants are him.
1946 D. Stivens Courtship Uncle Henry 18 In those days in the Mallee before they got the latest city ideas, they played Rules in long pants.
1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It i. 6 Grack..plucked a tricksie in shorts as she wiggled by. He took the thin pants between his horny fingers.
1964 Times 3 Aug. 11 The pants and pantskirt as shown by Marc Bohan at Dior are for the country and around the house.
1968 N.Y. Times 15 July 43 This time, it is a more coordinated trend—pant-skirts, pant-dresses, pant-suits, tops and pants and so on.
1973 N. Moss What's the Difference? p. ix I heard an American student at Cambridge University telling some English friends how he climbed over a locked gate..and tore his pants, and one of them asked in confusion, ‘But how could you tear your pants without tearing your trousers?’
1983 A. Sparks in J. Crwys-Williams S. Afr. Despatches (1989) 446 ‘Good morning, uncle,’ says the youngster in short pants at the farm gate.
1996 Woman's Day (Sydney) 10 June 37/2 (caption) This ever-popular boot style works very well under long-line skirts, boot-legged jeans and pants.
b. Originally and chiefly Caribbean. With singular agreement: a pair of trousers.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers
trouse1678
trousers1681
kicks1699
trousiesa1713
brogues1748
inexpressibles1790
unmentionable1791
et cetera1794
indescribable1794
kickseys1819
ineffables1823
indispensablesa1828
unimaginable1833
pantaloon1834
pants1835
inexplicables1836
never-mention-'ems1836
unwhisperable1837
results1839
sit-down-upons1839
sit-upons1839
unmentionabilities1840
innominablea1843
unutterables1843
trews1847
round-the-houses1857
unprintable1860
stovepipe1863
sit-in-ems1873
reach-me-downs1877
strides1889
rounds1893
long1898
kecks1900
rammies1906
trou1911
pants1970
1970 in R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage (1996) 427/1 One was a black terylene and wool, one pants was a black serge and one pants was a light-grey terylene wool.
1975 T. Callender It so Happen 23 He remember he had a friend living somewhere near there in a apartment room, and he decide to go to this fellow and see if he can't borrow a pants to wear home.
1994 Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee) (Nexis) 16 Sept. 1 a I arrived with one pants, one shirt and this bundle of papers.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers > types of > wide or loose > for cycling, etc.
pantaloon1814
pants1851
trouserettes1857
pantalettes1881
rationals1889
bloomer1895
pantalettes1897
1851 Washington Tel. in Illustr. London News 19 July 86/1 [Bloomer costume] Garments as graceful and becoming as are the ‘frock and pants’.
3. Chiefly British. (Men's or women's) underpants. N.E.D. (1904) describes this usage as ‘colloquial and “shoppy”’.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > underwear > [noun] > underpants
pants1880
chuddies1885
kecks1900
underpants1931
short1941
underfug1946
gotch1968
underdaks1976
shreddies1989
1880 Daily News 8 Nov. 2/7 Pants and shirts sell rather freely, and jerseys are still in request.
1928 R. Campbell Wayzgoose ii. 58 Through pants and vest the God explored.
1951 T. Sterling House without Door xiii. 152 She chose her blue underwear... She laid the pants and brassière on her bed.
1999 Watt's On (Heriot-Watt Univ. Students' Assoc.) 1/3 The University seems to be asking us to choose between wearing no underwear..and wearing damp pants.
4. British slang. Rubbish; nonsense. Frequently in pile (also load) of pants.The use of the noun in this sense is often difficult to distinguish from a predicative adjectival use.
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the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > worthless
hawc1000
turdc1275
fille1297
dusta1300
lead1303
skitc1330
naught1340
vanityc1340
wrakea1350
rushc1350
dirt1357
fly's wing1377
goose-wing1377
fartc1390
chaff?a1400
nutshella1400
shalec1400
yardc1400
wrack1472
pelfrya1529
trasha1529
dreg1531
trish-trash1542
alchemy1547
beggary?1548
rubbish1548
pelfa1555
chip1556
stark naught1562
paltry?1566
rubbish1566
riff-raff1570
bran1574
baggage1579
nihil1579
trush-trash1582
stubblea1591
tartar1590
garbage1592
bag of winda1599
a cracked or slit groat1600
kitchen stuff1600
tilta1603
nothing?1608
bauble1609
countera1616
a pair of Yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop1620
buttermilk1630
dross1632
paltrement1641
cattle1643
bagatelle1647
nothingness1652
brimborion1653
stuff1670
flap-dragon1700
mud1706
caput mortuuma1711
snuff1778
twaddle1786
powder-post1790
traffic1828
junk1836
duffer1852
shice1859
punk1869
hogwash1870
cagmag1875
shit1890
tosh1892
tripe1895
dreck1905
schlock1906
cannon fodder1917
shite1928
skunk1929
crut1937
chickenshit1938
crud1943
Mickey Mouse1958
gick1959
garbo1978
turd1978
pants1994
1994 Guardian 22 Sept. ii. 4/2 It's all a bit embarrassing because Mayo (catchphrase: ‘It's a pile of pants!’) fails to recognise her at first.
1996 SFX May 75/2 Sure, the pilot is complete pants, utterly derivative and deathly slow, and all the actors seem to be competing to see who can flex the least facial muscles, but don't let that put you off.
1996 Sporting Life (Nexis) 4 Aug. 15 Snooker? I'd rather we never won a medal of any sort again than see that pile of pants being accorded olympic status.
1997 Total Film Sept. 113/1 Then again, Mike says he's pleasantly surprised by our acting. I think he thought we were going to be absolute pants.
2000 Independent (Electronic ed.) 21 Dec. A Liberal Democrat stunned his fellow peers when he dismissed a landmark report on the future of the historic environment as ‘a load of pants’.
Phrases
P1. U.S. colloquial. (a person's) name is pants and variants: indicating that someone is discredited or unpopular, or has failed. Cf. one's name is mud at mud n.1 Phrases 3. Now rare.
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1886 College Courier (Monmouth, Illinois) Jan. 15/2 O! dignity, thy name is pants when thou essayist to hold a candle to the Coup.
1893 Puck (N.Y.) 12 July 324/2 When things don't come a man's way right off he gits to thinkin' his name is pants.
1921 Hamburg (Iowa) Reporter 9 June We will never be able to play another ball game and our name will be ‘pants’ from this day on for ever more.
1931 Moberly (Missouri) Monitor-Index 14 Oct. 7/5 Farmer's prayer... O Mighty Hoover, who are in Washington, when not fishing on the Rapidan. Thy name is pants.
P2. colloquial.
a. to wear (also put on) the pants: to be the dominant member of a household, relationship, partnership, etc. Cf. to wear the trousers at trousers n. Phrases 1.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinship group > family > be head of family or household [verb (intransitive)]
to wear (also put on) the pants1898
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > be or become married woman [verb (intransitive)] > act as a wife > domineer over husband
to wear the breeches1568
to wear the trousers1864
to wear (also put on) the pants1898
1898 N.Y. Times 3 Feb. 6/7 Women will not shy at mice, By and by, When they get the coming chance They will march in the advance, And may even wear the pants, By and by.
1924 N.Y. Times Mag. 8 June 15/1 A woman with nine chillun has nary business to put on the pants and strut around at 'lections.
1931 Amer. Mercury Nov. 331/1 He claimed that Peggy was bossy, that she wore the pants and gave orders to Pal.
1957 L. P. Hartley Hireling x. 77 She's older than he is and she wears the pants.
1993 H. N. Thomas Spirits in Dark xii. 144 Yo' ha' fo' gi' them a slap now an' again, even if they no' do nothing bad—so them know who wearing the pants.
b. to be caught with one's pants down: to be surprised in an embarrassing situation; to be caught off guard.
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > unpreparedness > act or speak without preparation [verb (intransitive)] > be embarrassingly unprepared
to be caught with one's pants down1922
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vi. [Hades] 97 Must be careful about women. Catch them once with their pants down. Never forgive you after.
1963 P. McCutchan Man from Moscow iii. 36 There was..four days to go before the arrival of the Foreign Ministers but the West was not going to be caught with its pants down.
1994 Q. Tarantino & R. Avary Pulp Fiction i. 11 You catch [restaurants]..with their pants down. They're not expecting to get robbed.
c. to beat (also bore, scare, etc.) the pants off (a person): to beat (bore, scare, etc.) completely, utterly, or beyond the point of endurance.
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the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > frighten [verb (transitive)] > greatly
to scare (also beat, etc.) the (liver and) lights out of (a person or thing)1868
to beat (also bore, scare, etc.) the pants off (a person)1925
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > be or become wearied or bored with [verb (transitive)] > affect with weariness or tedium > to extremity
to tire out1711
tire to death1740
to beat (also bore, scare, etc.) the pants off (a person)1925
1925 J. Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer ii. v. 232 Maybe when the Germans have licked the pants off her England'll give Ireland her freedom.
1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust iii. 133 She bores my pants off, but she's a good trier.
1934 G. S. Kaufman & M. Hart Merrily we roll Along ii. i. 102 I'm coming down there some day and beat the pants off you boys at chess.
1956 ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues i. 15 Once a girl hit me on the nose and it just about finished me. I took my gloves off and beat the pants off her.
1986 Auckland Metro Feb. 50/2 He charms the pants off a distributor then you follow up with the tough guys.
1992 Elle Jan. 45/1 There are..certain public figures that irritate the pants off us.
d. to keep one's pants on: to keep calm. Usually in imperative. Cf. to keep one's hair on at hair n. Phrases 11.
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the mind > emotion > calmness > self-possession or self-control > maintain self-control [verb (intransitive)]
to keep one's countenance1470
to get above ——1603
to keep one's head1717
keep your shirt on1844
to keep one's hair on1883
to keep one's wool1890
not to bat an eye, eyelid1904
to keep one's pants on1928
to play it cool1955
to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964
1928 C. McKay Home to Harlem xiii. 197 Keep you pants on, all of you and carry on with you' fun.
1936 J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle vi. 83 ‘I wish it would start,’ Jim said... ‘Keep your pants on,’ said Mac.
1973 E. Bullins Theme is Blackness 68 Okay..okay..Matilda..just keep your pants on, will ya?
1990 A. H. Vachss Blossom 252 Keep your pants on, boy.
e. to get into someone's pants: to have sexual intercourse with (a person).
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1937 Texas Criminal Rep. 133 197 Appellant had his hand around her holding her when he told her he wanted to get into her pants.
1946 J. H. Burns Gallery (1965) 7 You automatically assume that every GI wants to get into your pants.
1977 P. K. Dick Scanner Darkly iii. 32 Even if you get a whole gram of pure coke out of this, I can't use it on Donna to..you know, get into her pants.
2002 Washington Post 20 June (Home ed.) a13/3 Did I succeed because of my abilities..or did I succeed because this legislator wants to get into my pants?
P3. the seat of one's pants: a person's (originally a pilot's) sensitivity to the movement or vibration of an aeroplane, motor vehicle, etc., used as a guide in controlling it. Hence, more generally, in by the seat of one's pants: by instinct and experience rather than logic, expert knowledge, or technical aid. Also in extended uses.
ΚΠ
1938 New Yorker 30 July 7/1 For sometime before Douglas Corrigan flew to Dublin ‘by the seat of his pants’, we had been noticing that something was the matter with almost everybody we met.
1942 Harper's Mag. May 626/2 When you check your instruments you find it is doing a correct job of flying and that the seat of your pants and your eyes would have tricked you had you been allowed to do the ‘co-ordinating’.
1958 Listener 20 Nov. 835/3 That's no help to the man who's driving by the seat of his pants, as we used to say in the R.A.F. police.
1972 Times 18 Sept. 20/4 There was a feeling among the workforce that the firm was being run ‘by the seat of the pants’.
1978 R. Jansson News Caper viii. 85 Thackray was not looking at the instruments... Perhaps that was what they meant by flying by the seat of the pants.
1987 P. McCabe Bad News at Black Rock v. 80 Katz's solution was not to systematize at all, but to fly by the seat of his pants.
1993 Sports Illustr. 24 May 42/3 If you drive by the seat of your pants, you've got to be able to feel the car.
Compounds
(Terms relating to styles of clothing all have more common analogues at pant n.3 Compounds 2.) C1. General attributive.
pants pocket n.
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1862 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 79/1 You was n't always spyin' to see we did n't take home a cross-tail or a hundred-weight of cast-iron in our pants' pockets.
1931 E. O'Neill Hunted iv, in Mourning becomes Electra (1932) 170 He fumbles in his pants pocket.
1999 A. Dubus House of Sand & Fog (2000) 97 In the office I fold the lawyer's envelope into my pants pocket.
C2.
pants dress n. a dress with a divided skirt; = pantdress n. at pant n.3 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1964 Women's Wear Daily 30 Nov. 4 Catherine Deneuve ordered at Heim a pantsdress in multicolored striped chiffon.
1969 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring–Summer 32 Floral print especially smart in this pants dress because it's done in navy and white.
pants leg n. North American = pantleg n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for legs > clothing for legs and lower body > [noun] > trousers > parts of > leg
pant1832
pantleg1854
trousers1862
pants leg1880
1876 Ladies' Repository June 514/2 In a short time, he [sc. a mouse] is fancied to have jumped on the floor, and to be trying to make the ascent of his pants' leg.]
1880 Washington Post 5 Sept. 2/6 The convict carried it in a leather bag suspended in his pants leg by means of a string.
1931 Amer. Mercury Feb. 149/2 There were pesky little wood-lizards in the leaves that sometimes upset concentration by bolding up somebody's pants-leg.
2003 Consumer Rep. Jan. 8/3 They [sc. sewing machines] also don't have a free arm for stitching pants legs.
pants rabbits n. U.S. slang body lice; (also) fleas.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > group Anoplura > order Siphunculata > member of genus Pediculus (louse) > pediculus corporis (body-louse)
body louse1545
crumb1863
typhus louse1910
coot1915
cootie1917
pants rabbits1917
1917 Santa Fe (New Mexico) Mag. Oct. 27/1 There is an abundance of fleas (pants' rabbits the boys call them).
1918 National Geographic Mag. June 499 They call the things ‘pants rabbits’ and ‘seam squirrels’.
1994 Daily Mail (Nexis) 12 Feb. 4 I would be suddenly overwhelmed by an uncontrollable desire to thrust both hands down the front of my trousers and make like I had a bad case of Arkansas pants rabbits.
pants role n. originally and chiefly U.S. a young male role sung by a female singer (typically a contralto or mezzo-soprano) in an opera; cf. trouser role n. at trousers n. Compounds 1d (cf. breeches-part n. at breech n. Compounds 2c).
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1980 Christian Sci. Monitor 10 July 19/3 Maxine Litwak, in the pants role of the page Smeton, showed a rich contralto.
2001 Wall St. Jrnl. 7 Aug. a12/3 Christine Abraham..charming in the central pants role of Lazuli, the poor peddler who falls in love with a (disguised) princess.
pants skirt n. a divided skirt; = pantskirt n. at pant n.3 Compounds 2.
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1964 Glamour July 77 A blouse that looks like challis edged in wool lace, with a wine-dark leather pants-skirt.
1969 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring–Summer 34 Plaid pants skirt. Twill. Front panel hides plaid culotte.
pants suit n. = trouser suit n. (cf. pantsuit n. at pant n.3 Compounds 2).
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > set or suit of clothes > [noun] > for specific people > for women > trouser suit
trouser suit1898
slack suit1940
pants suit1964
pantsuit1964
1964 Glamour Dec. 112 1 and 2 [sc. jacket and pants] make a pants-suit that's very current and handsome.
1991 M. Amis Time's Arrow i. 22 Gay old broads in party dresses and tan pants suits.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pantsv.
/pants/, U.S. /pæn(t)s/ U.S. slang.
1. transitive. To put trousers on (a person).Apparently an isolated use.
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1936 Washington Post 27 May 9/1 I doubt very much that Rushaway would have been as fresh at Latonia if he had to perform the acrobatic feat of pantsing himself in the morning.
2. transitive. To pull down or remove the trousers (and sometimes underpants) of (a person), esp. as a practical joke. Cf. debag v.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > undressing or removing clothing > undress or remove clothing [verb (transitive)] > strip or undress a person > divest of specific garments > trousers
unbreech1598
debag1914
de-pants1939
pants1972
1972 J. Jacobs & W. Casey Grease ii. ii. 81 Pants 'em! (Sonny and Kenickie leap on Roger and get his pants off.).
1991 V. E. Villaseñor Rain of Gold xvii. 315 We pantsed our old teacher..and threw him out the window!
2002 Bull. Center Children's Bks. 55 167 Readers will ache in sympathy for both Zoey and Robin when Robin accidentally pantses Zoey in front of the whole class.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1835
v.1936