boardshorts en · NOUN
Etymology
From board + shorts.
Meanings
-
(plural, plural-only) A style of typically knee-length lightweight shorts worn generally by males as swimwear and for surfing.
But the appeal of the label — now sold at surf shops in 19 states and 12 countries — is that its black boardshorts and no-frills logos both bypass the sport’s floral sartorial clichés and also, for those in the know, summon up a hard-core, roots surfer image of riders like those Da Hui underwrites.
2008 May 15, Guy Trebay, “A Line in the Sand and in the Stores”, in New York Times:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| board shorts | alternative | lexicographic | |
| boardshort | attributive | lexicographic | |
| boardshort | alternative, uncommon | lexicographic |