formerly, a cloth or leather legging worn by men to protect the hose from mud splashes, etc, usu buttoned on the outside, retained only in certain types of formal wear, e.g. that of bishops

Mr Knightley was hard at work upon the lower buttons of his thick leather gaiters — Jane Austen

I see already his muscular calves encased in the gaiters episcopal — Somerset Maugham

formerly, an ankle boot or overshoe for women, with a fabric upper

a climber's legging of tough nylon canvas for the lower leg and boot upper, for preventing snow from getting into the top of the boots