Dictionary

be-breeched en · ADJ

Etymology

From be- + breech + -ed.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Wearing breeches.
   • A gallant, be-breeched gentleman, the hemispheres of his Bedford Cords flapping gloriously in rhythm with the lope of his mount, galloped by us footsloggers on Salisbury Plain. 1940 December 27, Harold Baldwin, “A Plague o’ All Your Breeches”, in The Leader-Post, volume XXXII, number 295, Regina, Sask., page four:
   • BE-BREECHED DAUGHTERS BARRED FROM PLACE IN CATHEDRAL 1929 November 1, The Battle Creek Enquirer, and – The Evening News, Battle Creek, Mich., page 9:
   • I should think two-thirds rode side-saddle—and infinitely more graceful they looked than their be-breeched sister astride. 1933 March 29, Lukin Johnston, “In England Today”, in Edmonton Journal, 29th year, number 216, Edmonton, Alta., page ten:
   • If a representative of the law were to ask a girl on the boulevards what she meant by sporting breeches in the streets she would answer that she had left her cycle round the corner, or was on her way to fetch it, and what could the sargot say to that? A good many of these be-breeched fair ones were never across a cycle in their lives, but that does not matter in the least. 1894 February 8, “The Paris Girl in Pants; She Dons Man’s Attire for Walking On the Streets Without Molestation. The Evolution of the Bicycle Skirt. Mme. Dieulafoy, Clothed As a Man, Accompanied Her Husband to the Wars.”, in The St. Joseph Gazette, St. Joseph, Mo., page 2:

Forms

Synonyms

breeched