short trousers en · NOUN
Etymology
From short + trousers.
Meanings
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(plural, plural-only) Trousers reaching as far as the knee, typically worn by young boys.
My friend Mr. Mesman kindly lent me a horse, and accompanied me on my visit to the Rajah, with whom he was great friends. We found his Majesty seated out of doors, watching the erection of a new house. He was naked from the waist up, wearing only the usual short trousers and sarong.
1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 335: