different between breeches vs inexpressibles

English

Alternative forms

• britches (Appalachia, Southern US)

Etymology

From Middle English breches, brechen pl, a variant of Middle English breche, brech, brek (“breeches”), from Old English br?? (“breeches”), from Proto-Germanic *br?kiz pl (nom.acc.), from Proto-Germanic *br?ks (“trousers”); akin to Old Norse brók (“breeches”), Danish brog, Dutch broek, German Bruch f; compare Latin br?cae ( > French braies) which is immediately of Celtic origin, and likely ultimately from the same Germanic origin above. Compare brail.

Pronunciation

• (plural of breech):

  IPA^(key): /?b?i?t??z/

• (smallclothes; trousers):

  IPA^(key): /?b??t??z/ (traditional)

  IPA^(key): /?b?i?t??z/ (more recent spelling pronunciation)

• Rhymes: -?t??z, -i?t??z

Noun

breeches

1. plural of breech

Noun

breeches pl (plural only)

1. A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes.
2. (informal) Trousers; pantaloons.

   Synonyms: trousers, pants

Derived terms

• breeches buoy
• breeches pipe: a forked pipe forming two branches united at one end
• knee-breeches
• open-kneed breeches
• wear the breeches: see wear the pants, wear the trousers
• too big for one's britches

Translations

See also

• pantaloons
• britches
• jodhpurs

Further reading

• breeches on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From inexpressible +? -s. Compare unmentionables (“underwear”).

Noun

inexpressibles pl (plural only)

1. (colloquial, dated) Breeches, trousers.
   • 1796, Edward Gibbon, letter, in Memoirs of My Life, Penguin 1990, p. 196:

     Have you never observed, through my inexpressibles, a large prominency, circa genitalia? It was a swelled testicle […] .

   • 1833-36, Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz, "The Out and Out Young Gentleman", in The Oxford Illustrated Dickens, p. 596:

     For some years past the favorite costume of the out-and-out young gentleman has been a rough pilot coat, with two gilt hooks and eyes to the velvet collar; buttons somewhat larger than crown-pieces; a black or fancy neckerchief, loosely tied; a wide-brimmed hat, with a low crown; tightish inexpressibles, and iron-shod boots.

   • 1832, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram

     "Well , my good man ," said he , brushing off , with the arm of his coat , some dust that had settled on his inexpressibles