BREECHES

breeches, knee breeches, knee pants, knickerbockers, knickers

(noun) (used in the plural) trousers ending above the knee

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

breeches

plural of breech

Noun

breeches pl (plural only)

A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.

(informal) Trousers; pantaloons.

Synonyms: trousers, pants

Source: Wiktionary

Breech"es, n. pl. Etym: [OE. brech, brek, AS. brek, pl. of broc breech, breeches; akin to Icel. brok breeches, ODan. brog, D. broek, G. bruch; cf. L. bracae, braccae, which is of Celtic origin. Cf. Brail.]

1. A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes. His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue. Coleridge.

2. Trousers; pantaloons. [Colloq.] Breeches buoy, in the life-saving service, a pair of canvas breeches depending from an annular or beltlike life buoy which is usually of cork. This contrivance, inclosing the person to be rescued, is hung by short ropes from a block which runs upon the hawser stretched from the ship to the shore, and is drawn to land by hauling lines.

– Breeches pipe, a forked pipe forming two branches united at one end.

– Knee breeches, breeches coming to the knee, and buckled or fastened there; smallclothes.

– To wear the breeches, to usurp the authority of the husband; -- said of a wife. [Colloq.]

BREECH

Breech, n. Etym: [See Breeches.]

1. The lower part of the body behind; the buttocks.

2. Breeches. [Obs.] Shak.

3. The hinder part of anything; esp., the part of a cannon, or other firearm, behind the chamber.

4. (Naut.)

Definition: The external angle of knee timber, the inside of which is called the throat.

Breech, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Breeched; p. pr. & vb. n. Breeching.]

1. To put into, or clothe with, breeches. A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. Macaulay.

2. To cover as with breeches. [Poetic] Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore. Shak.

3. To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun.

4. To whip on the breech. [Obs.] Had not a courteous serving man conveyed me away, whilst he went to fetch whips, I think, in my conscience, he would have breeched me. Old Play.

5. To fasten with breeching.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition