Dictionary

leatherbritches en · NOUN

Etymology

From a resemblance to leather britches or trousers once dried.

Meanings

1. (Appalachia, plural, plural-only) Green beans strung on thread for drying and storage.
   • Beans that were strung and dried in the pod were called shuck beans, shucky beans, or leatherbritches (Clark 1998), depending on the region. 2006, John van Willigen, Anne van Willigen, “Puttin’ Up the Garden”, in Food and Everyday Life on Kentucky Family Farms, 1920-1950, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, pages 203-20:
   • Sally sat on the porch threading beans on strings to make leatherbritches, and five long strings of pods already hung above her from the porch rafters to dry. 1997, Charles Frazier, “The ground beneath her hands”, in Cold Mountain, New York: Atlantic:

Forms

Synonyms

shucky beans