pants
She was wearing dark blue pants and a white sweater.
a piece of clothing that covers you from your waist to your feet and has a separate part for each leg SYN trousers
She was wearing dark blue pants and a white sweater.
Oxford Essential Dictionary
pants
noun (plural)
1 (British) (American panties, underpants) a small piece of clothing that you wear under your other clothes, around the middle of your body to cover your bottom same meaning knickers, underpants:
a pair of pants
2 American English for trousers
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
pants
I. pants1 S3 /pænts/ BrE AmE noun [plural]
[Date: 1800-1900; Origin: pantaloons]
1. especially American English a piece of clothing that covers you from your waist to your feet and has a separate part for each leg SYN trousers British English:
She was wearing dark blue pants and a white sweater.
2. British English a piece of underwear that covers the area between your waist and the top of your legs SYN underpants American English ⇨ knickers, briefs, boxer shorts
3. bore/scare etc the pants off somebody informal spoken to make someone feel very bored, very frightened etc:
She always bores the pants off me.
4. beat the pants off somebody American English spoken to defeat someone very easily in a game or competition SYN thrash
5. somebody puts his pants on one leg at a time American English spoken used to say that someone is just like everyone else:
Go on, ask him for his autograph – he puts his pants on one leg at a time just like you do.
6. (since somebody was) in short pants British English informal since someone was a very young boy:
I’ve known Eric since he was in short pants.
⇨ do something by the seat of your pants at ↑seat1(10), ⇨ catch somebody with their pants down at ↑catch1(6), ⇨ wear the pants/trousers at ↑wear1(7)
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
pants
pants [pænts] [pænts] noun
plural
1. (BrE) underpants or knickers
• a pair of pants
2. (especially NAmE) trousers
• a new pair of pants
• ski pants
see also cargo pants
3. (BrE, slang) (also used as an adjective) something you think is of poor quality
Syn: rubbish
• Their new CD is absolute pants!
• Do we have to watch this pants programme?
more at have ants in your pants at ant, catch sb with their pants down at catch v., (fly) by the seat of your pants at seat n., wear the pants at wear v., wet your pants/knickers at wet v.
Idiom: bore/scare the pants off somebody
Word Origin:
[pants] mid 19th cent.: abbreviation of pantaloons.
Example Bank:
• He was so frightened that he wet his pants.
• a brown vest with matching pants
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
pants / pænts / noun [ plural ]
pants
B1 UK → underpants
See picture clothes 3
A1 US for trousers:
a pair of pants
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
pants
/pænts/
1.
Pants are a piece of underwear which have two holes to put your legs through and elastic around the top to hold them up round your waist or hips. (BRIT; in AM, usually use underpants)
I put on my bra and pants.
= knickers
N-PLURAL: also a pair of N
2.
Pants are a piece of clothing that covers the lower part of your body and each leg. (AM; in BRIT, use trousers)
He wore brown corduroy pants and a white cotton shirt.
N-PLURAL: also a pair of N
3.
If you say that something is pants, you mean that it is very poor in quality. (BRIT INFORMAL)
The place is pants, yet so popular.
N-UNCOUNT
4.
If someone bores, charms, or scares the pants off you, for example, they bore, charm, or scare you a lot. (INFORMAL)
You’ll bore the pants off your grandchildren...
PHRASE: v PHR [emphasis]
5.
If you fly by the seat of your pants or do something by the seat of your pants, you use your instincts to tell you what to do in a new or difficult situation rather than following a plan or relying on equipment.
PHRASE: V inflects
6.
to wear the pants: see wear
pant
/pænt/
(pants, panting, panted)
If you pant, you breathe quickly and loudly with your mouth open, because you have been doing something energetic.
She climbed rapidly until she was panting with the effort.
VERB: V
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
pants
pants /ˈpænts/ noun [plural]
1 chiefly US : a piece of clothing that covers your body from the waist to the ankle and has a separate part for each leg
• a pair of pants [=trousers]
• short/long pants
• a pants leg
- sometimes used in the singular form pant especially before another noun and in clothing catalogs
• a pant leg
• a classic khaki pant = (more commonly) classic khaki pants
- see color picture
2 Brit : underpants 1
ants in your pants
- see ant
by the seat of your pants
- see 1seat
keep your pants on US informal
- used to tell someone to be patient
• “Aren't you ready to leave yet?” “Keep your pants on! I'll be ready in a minute.”
the pants off informal
- used for emphasis after words like charm, scare, frighten, bore, and beat
• He can charm the pants off anybody. [=he is very charming]
• She scared the pants off us [=she scared us very badly] when she phoned at 3 a.m.
• The meeting bored the pants off me.
• The home team beat the pants off the visiting team last night.
wear the pants
- see 1wear
with your pants down US informal : in an embarrassing or unprepared position
• The clinic now maintains an adequate supply of vaccine so that it won't be caught with its pants down if there is a flu outbreak two years in a row.
