Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

breeks en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Middle English breke, Northern variant of brechis (“trousers”), from Old English brēċ (“breeches”), plural of brōc (“covering for the leg; trouser”). More at breeches.

Meanings

  1. (Scotland, plural, plural-only) Pants, breeches.
    • — Ah, poor dogsbody, he said in a kind voice. I must give you a shirt and a few noserags. How are the secondhand breeks? 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 6:
    • He was a loutish fellow, much bent in the shoulders, with leggings, which lacked most of the buttons, over his disreputable breeks. 1930 July, John Buchan, “The First Day of the Hegira—The Inn at Watermeeting”, in Castle Gay, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, page 140:
    • Tane unfolded and rose to his full height. Naked, his tanned flesh glistening with sweat, he held out his arms and stretched out the kinks in his body. […] "Loan me some breeks." 2002, Mickee Madden, Midnight Sun, page 144: