trousers

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Wikipedia.

trou·ser

(trou′zər)

n. often trousers

A pair of pants, especially when extending from waist to ankles.

[Back-formation from trousers, alteration of obsolete trouse, from Scottish Gaelic triubhas.]

trou′sered (-zərd) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

trousers

(ˈtraʊzəz)

pl n

1. (Clothing & Fashion) a garment shaped to cover the body from the waist to the ankles or knees with separate tube-shaped sections for both legs

2. wear the trousers informal Brit to have control, esp in a marriage. US equivalent: wear the pants

[C17: from earlier trouse, a variant of trews, influenced by drawers]

ˈtrousered adj

ˈtrouserless adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

trou•sers

(ˈtraʊ zərz)

n. (used with a pl. v.)

Sometimes, trouser. a usu. loose-fitting outer garment for the lower part of the body, having individual leg portions, usu. of full length.Also called pants. Compare slacks.

[1585–95; trouse (< Irish triubhas; see trews) + (draw) ers]

trousers

fob - A small pocket close to the waistband of trousers.
galluses - Another name for suspenders for trousers.
plus fours - Got their name (c. 1920) from the fact that such trousers were made four inches longer than standard knickerbockers or shorts, which came to just above the knee.
trousers, trouse - The singular of trousers is trouse.

trousers

Trousers are a piece of clothing that covers your body from the waist downwards, and covers each leg separately. Trousers is a plural noun. You use a plural form of a verb with it.

His trousers were covered in mud.

Don't talk about 'a trousers'. You say some trousers or a pair of trousers.

It's time I bought myself some new trousers.

Umar was dressed in a pair of black trousers.

You usually use a singular form of a verb with a pair of trousers.

There was a pair of trousers in his carrier-bag.

The form trouser is often used in front of another noun.

The waiter took a handkerchief from his trouser pocket.

Hamo was rolling up his trouser leg.

In American English, more common words for this item of clothing are pants or slacks.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

trousers

pants

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

trousers

plural noun slacks, pants (U.S.), strides (chiefly Austral. informal), kecks (Brit. informal) He was smartly dressed in a shirt, dark trousers and boots.

Trousers and shorts

bell-bottoms, Bermuda shorts, bloomers, breeches, britches, or (Scot.) breeks, buckskins, Capri pants or Capris, cargo pants, chinos, churidars, combats, cords or corduroys, culottes, cycling shorts, denims, drainpipes, dungarees, flannels, flares, galligaskins or gallygaskins, hipsters or (U.S.) hip-huggers, hot pants, jeans, jodhpurs, Kachera, knickerbockers or (U.S.) knickers, lederhosen, leggings, Levis (trademark), loon pants or loons, overalls, Oxford bags, palazzo pants, pantaloons, pedal pushers, plus fours, pyjamas, riding breeches, salopettes, shalwar, ski pants, slacks, slops, smallclothes, spatterdashes, stovepipes, sweat-suit trousers, tracksuit trousers, jogging trousers, or joggers, toreador pants, trews, trouse (Brit.), trunk hose

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

بَنْطَلونبَنْطَلُون

pantalópantalons

kalhoty

bukser

Hose

παντελόνι

pantalones pantalón

püksid

housut

pantalon

hlače

nadrág

celana

buxur

pantaloni calzoni brache

ズボン

바지

kelnių

bikses

pantaloni

nohavice

hlače

byxor

กางเกง

pantolon

quần

裤子

trousers

[ˈtraʊzə^rz] npl (mainly British) → pantalon m
a pair of trousers → un pantalon
short trousers → culottes fpl courtestrouser suit [ˈtraʊzə^rsuːt] n (mainly British) → tailleur-pantalon m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

trousers

pl (esp Brit) (also pair of trousers) → Hose f; she was wearing trousers → sie hatte Hosen or eine Hose an; to wear the trousers (fig inf) → die Hosen anhaben (inf); to be caught with one’s trousers down (inf, lit: sexually) → in flagranti erwischt werden (inf); (fig) → überrumpelt werden; (= unprepared) → sich kalt erwischen lassen (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

trousers

[ˈtraʊzəz] npl (Brit) → pantaloni mpl, calzoni mpl
short trousers → calzoncini mpl
she wears the trousers (fig) → è lei che porta i calzoni

trousers

(ˈtrauzəz) noun plural

an outer garment for the lower part of the body, covering each leg separately. He wore (a pair of) black trousers; She was dressed in trousers and a sweater.

trouser-

of trousers. a trouser-button; That dog has torn my trouser-leg.

trousers

→ بَنْطَلُون kalhoty bukser Hose παντελόνι pantalón housut pantalon hlače pantaloni ズボン 바지 broek bukser spodnie calças брюки byxor กางเกง pantolon quần 裤子

trousers

n., pl. pantalones.

May I try on these pants? (US)
Can I try on these trousers? (UK) → Můžu si zkusit tyhle kalhoty? → Må jeg prøve bukserne på? → Kann ich diese Hose anprobieren? → ¿Puedo probarme estos pantalones? → Voinko sovittaa näitä housuja? → Je peux essayer ce pantalon ? → Mogu li probati ove hlače? → Posso provare questi pantaloni? → Mag ik deze broek passen? → Kan jeg prøve disse buksene? → Czy mogę przymierzyć te spodnie? → Kan jag prova de här byxorna? → Bu pantalonu deneyebilir miyim? → 我可以试穿这条裤子吗？

References in classic literature ?

We worked like tigers, especially as summer came on and the academy boys took to the wearing of duck trousers. It consumes a dreadful lot of time to iron one pair of duck trousers.

View in context

His teeth came together in the slack of the white duck trousers. The consequent jerk on Captain Duncan's leg made that infuriated mariner lose his balance.

View in context

Here he held Martin off at arm's length and ran his beaming eyes over Martin's second-best suit, which was also his worst suit, and which was ragged and past repair, though the trousers showed the careful crease he had put in with Maria's flat-irons.

View in context

On the miserable bed lay a gray-headed old man of gigantic stature, with nothing on him but a ragged shirt and a pair of patched, filthy trousers. At the side of the bed, with a bottle of gin on the rickety table between them, sat two hideous leering, painted monsters, wearing the dress of women.

View in context

Thick-set and of middle height, with nimble movements, with his brown hat, olive-green coat and narrow trousers--though wide trousers had been a long while in fashion,--most of all, with the ordinariness of his broad face, and the combined expression of timidity and anxiety to keep up his dignity, Mihailov made an unpleasant impression.

View in context

Their yearly clothing consisted of two coarse linen shirts, one pair of linen trousers, like the shirts, one jacket, one pair of trousers for winter, made of coarse negro cloth, one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes; the whole of which could not have cost more than seven dollars.

View in context

But let us put our hands in our trousers pockets, and let there be some small change in the right-hand one and a bunch of keys in the left, and we will face a female post-office clerk.

View in context

He was roused by Mr Fledgeby's appearing erect at the foot of the bed, in Turkish slippers, rose-coloured Turkish trousers (got cheap from somebody who had cheated some other somebody out of them), and a gown and cap to correspond.

View in context

"You'd make a healthy-lookin' figger in a group," responded Kearney, critically regarding an enormous patch in Mattingly's trousers. "Why don't you have a fountain instead?"

View in context

Genevieve slipped on a pair of Joe's shoes, light-soled and dapper, and laughed with Lottie, who stooped to turn up the trousers for her.

View in context

Some went bare, only for a hanging cloak or great-coat, and carried their trousers on their backs like a useless burthen: some had made an imitation of the tartan with little parti-coloured stripes patched together like an old wife's quilt; others, again, still wore the Highland philabeg, but by putting a few stitches between the legs transformed it into a pair of trousers like a Dutchman's.

View in context

When they had finished their song the girl in white went up to the prompter's box and a man with tight silk trousers over his stout legs, and holding a plume and a dagger, went up to her and began singing, waving his arms about.