English

Noun

knee-breeches pl ‎(plural only)

1. Breeches reaching down to or just below the knee.
   • 1918, Caradoc Evans, "The Talent Thou Gavest" in My People: Stories of the Peasantry of West Wales, New York: Boni and Liveright, p. 68,

     This Eben did every day till he grew out of knee-breeches into long corduroy trousers.

   • 1938, George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, Chapter 1,

     Practically everyone in the army wore corduroy knee-breeches, but there the uniformity ended.

   • 1967, Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore, Africa Since 1800, Cambridge University Press, 2005, Chapter 16, p. 225

     All over British Africa, speakers in their traditional wigs and knee-breeches presided over the rectangular debating chambers of the Westminster model, in which 'government' and 'opposition' sat facing each other.

   • 1996, Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven, translated by Paul Vincent, Penguin, Part Four, Chapter 63,

     Orthodox Jews, in knee-breeches, with round hats and ringlets down their cheeks, were indulging in strange jerking movements, like puppets, while reading books […]