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Knee breeches   Listen
noun
Knee  n.  
1.
In man, the joint in the middle part of the leg.
2.
(Anat.)
(a)
The joint, or region of the joint, between the thigh and leg.
(b)
In the horse and allied animals, the carpal joint, corresponding to the wrist in man.
3.
(Mech. & Shipbuilding) A piece of timber or metal formed with an angle somewhat in the shape of the human knee when bent.
4.
A bending of the knee, as in respect or courtesy. "Give them title, knee, and approbation."
Knee breeches. See under Breeches.
Knee holly, Knee holm (Bot.), butcher's broom.
Knee joint. See in the Vocabulary.
Knee timber, timber with knees or angles in it.
Knee tribute, or Knee worship, tribute paid by kneeling; worship by genuflection. (Obs.) "Knee tribute yet unpaid."


Breeches  n. pl.  
1.
A garment worn by men, covering the hips and thighs; smallclothes. "His jacket was red, and his breeches were blue."
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.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Knee breeches" Quotes from Famous Books



... extensive orgy in haberdashery. From similar motives I did not invest in the lounge suit to which an Englishman is addicted. I doubted whether it would fit the lounge we have at home—though, with stretching, it might, at that. My choice finally fell on an English raincoat and a pair of those baggy knee breeches such as an Englishman wears when he goes to Scotland for the moor shooting, or to the National Gallery, or any other damp, ...
— Europe Revised • Irvin S. Cobb
... say. So far as I could judge, he seemed to be very handsome. You see, it was like this. After waiting in the lobby of the Royal Palace Hotel for about an hour, I was shown into a large drawing-room; a sort of footman in knee breeches took my laces into the adjoining room where the King was walking up and down. I just caught a glimpse of ...
— A Royal Prisoner • Pierre Souvestre
... usual time taken on these trips. The drovers would start some hours, or perhaps a day, in advance of Mr. Trueman. He would go on horse-back, in knee breeches, and with the ...
— The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers • Howard Trueman


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