different between pant vs slacks

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?nt, IPA^(key): /pænt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Etymology 1

From Middle English panten, whence also English dialectal pank.

Possibly from Old French pantoyer, a byform or of Old French pantoisier (“to be breathless”) (compare modern French panteler (“to gasp for breath”)), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Vulgar Latin *pantasi? (“struggling for breath when having a nightmare”), from Ancient Greek ????????? (phantasió?, “I am subject to hallucinations”), from ???????? (phantasía, “appearance, image, fantasy”).

Noun

pant (plural pants)

1. A quick breathing; a catching of the breath; a gasp.
2. (figuratively) Eager longing.
   • 1995, John C. Leggett, Suzanne Malm, The Eighteen Stages of Love (page 9)

     Indeed, the projections, cravings, and everyday frolics common to trysts among buzz-activist Hollywood stars and starlets, plus their many common folk imitators, go forward with eager pant.

3. (obsolete) A violent palpitation of the heart.

Translations

References

• pant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “pant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Verb

pant (third-person singular simple present pants, present participle panting, simple past and past participle panted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp.

   • Pluto pants for breath from out his cell.

   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound

     There is a cavern where my spirit / Was panted forth in anguish.
2. (intransitive) To long eagerly; to desire earnestly.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To long for (something); to be eager for (something).
   • 1633, George Herbert, Love

     Then shall our hearts pant thee.

4. (intransitive) Of the heart, to beat with unnatural violence or rapidity; to palpitate.
5. (intransitive) To sigh; to flutter; to languish.
6. (intransitive) To heave, as the breast.
7. (intransitive) To bulge and shrink successively, of iron hulls, etc.

Synonyms

• (breathe quickly or in a labored manner): gasp
• (long for): crave, desire, long for, pine for
• (long eagerly): crave, desire, long, pine
• (of the heart, to beat with unnatural violence): palpitate, pound, throb

Translations

Etymology 2

From pants

Noun

pant (plural pants)

1. (fashion) A pair of pants (trousers or underpants).
2. (used attributively as a modifier) Of or relating to pants.

   Pant leg

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Unknown

Noun

pant (plural pants)

1. (Scotland and northeast England) Any public drinking fountain.

References

• OED 2nd edition

Anagrams

• APTN, NAPT, NPTA

Czech

Noun

=Etymology

From German Band (“band, belt”)

pant m

1. hinge

Danish

Noun

pant

1. a deposit (on packaging such as bottles and cans)

Derived terms

• dåsepant, flaskepant

See also

• depositum (deposit on a rented home)

Middle English

Verb

pant

1. Alternative form of panten

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Middle Low German pant and Old Norse pantr

Noun

pant n (definite singular pantet, indefinite plural pant, definite plural panta or pantene)

1. pawn (item sold to a pawn shop)
2. a mortgage
3. security (on a loan)
4. a forfeit (in a game)
5. a pledge

Related terms

• pantelån
• pantelåner
• pantsette

Noun

pant m (definite singular panten, indefinite plural panter, definite plural pantene)

1. a (refundable) deposit (e.g. on bottles)

References

• “pant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Middle Low German pant and Old Norse pantr

Noun

pant n (definite singular pantet, indefinite plural pant, definite plural panta)

1. pawn (item sold to a pawn shop)
2. a mortgage
3. security (on a loan)
4. a forfeit (in a game)
5. a pledge

Related terms

• pantelån

Noun

pant m (definite singular panten, indefinite plural pantar, definite plural pantane)

1. a (refundable) deposit (e.g. on bottles)

References

• “pant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German Band via Austrian German.

Noun

p?nt m (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. hinge

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Middle Low German pant and Old Norse pantr

Noun

pant c

1. pledge, item deposited at a pawnshop or otherwise given as a security; money returned when a bottle or similar is recycled

Declension

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *kwantyo- "flat hill", compare Pictish ???? (pant, “hollow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pant/

Noun

pant m (plural pantiau)

1. hollow, depression, small valley, dingle, dell

Mutation

English

Noun

slacks

1. plural of slack

Noun

slacks pl (plural only)

1. (dated) Semi-formal trousers that are less formal than those part of a suit but suitable for wearing in most offices and therefore nowadays no longer considered casual trousers. (Takes a plural verb even when referring to a single pair; may be referred to as a pair of slacks)
   • 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey:

     Not five minutes later, Zooey, with his hair combed wet, stood wet, stood barefoot at the washbowl, wearing a pair of beltless dark-gray sharkskin slacks, a face towel across his bare shoulders.

Usage notes

The term is old-fashioned and now used mostly by older people and by the clothing industry in the US. (It was never common in British English.) Despite being no longer considered casual clothing, they are incorrectly still defined as casual trousers by all major American and British dictionaries.

Translations

Verb

slacks

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of slack