1. a. orig. = Pantaloons; subsequently used for trousers, worn by either men or women. Chiefly U.S. b. orig. colloquial and ?shoppy? for ?drawers?; now used for underpants, panties, or shorts worn as an outer garment: cf. hot pants (HOT a. 12c).
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1840 E. A. POE Peter Pendulum in Burton's Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 88 Standing on one leg three hours, to show off new-touch strapped pants. 1846 O. W. HOLMES Rhymed Lesson 515 The thing named ?pants? in certain documents, A word not made for gentlemen, but ?gents?. 1853 ?C. BEDE? Verdant Green (1857) 22 Seated with wash-leather..like the eleventh hussars..with their cherry-coloured pants. 1880 Daily News 8 Nov. 2/7 Pants and shirts sell rather freely, and jerseys are still in request. 1884 Philad. Even. Tel. XLI. No. 8. 2 His assailant tore the pocket from his pants. 1893 A. S. ECCLES Sciatica 37 Cutting off from a pair of merino pants the leg corresponding to the sound and unaffected limb. 1928 R. CAMPBELL Wayzgoose ii. 58 Through pants and vest the God explored. 1930 H. G. WELLS Autocracy of Mr. Parham II. i. 95 He grows more and more independent of the idea that his pants are him. 1940 O. NASH Face is Familiar 91 Sure, deck your lower limbs in pants. 1951 T. STERLING House without Door xiii. 152 She chose her blue underwear... She laid the pants and brassière on her bed. 1956 H. GOLD Man who was not with It (1965) i. 5 Grack..plucked a tricksie in shorts as she wiggled by. He took the thin pants between his horny fingers. 1964, 1968 [see pantskirt s.v. PANT n.3 2]. 1971 New Yorker 11 Sept. 12/1 (Advt.), The back-zippered tunic is a great topper for skirts and pants. 1973 N. MOSS What's the Difference? p. ix, I heard an American student at Cambridge University telling some English friends how he climbed over a locked gate to get into his college and tore his pants, and one of them asked in confusion, ?But how could you tear your pants without tearing your trousers?? 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 20 Nov. 13/2 The men in flannel shirts and work pants stood in the driveway outside the hillside house and talked about Vivien Kellems.
Burton's Gentlemen's Magazine is from the US, philly to be precise.
Comments
1. a. orig. = Pantaloons; subsequently used for trousers, worn by either men or women. Chiefly U.S. b. orig. colloquial and ?shoppy? for ?drawers?; now used for underpants, panties, or shorts worn as an outer garment: cf. hot pants (HOT a. 12c).
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1840 E. A. POE Peter Pendulum in Burton's Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 88 Standing on one leg three hours, to show off new-touch strapped pants. 1846 O. W. HOLMES Rhymed Lesson 515 The thing named ?pants? in certain documents, A word not made for gentlemen, but ?gents?. 1853 ?C. BEDE? Verdant Green (1857) 22 Seated with wash-leather..like the eleventh hussars..with their cherry-coloured pants. 1880 Daily News 8 Nov. 2/7 Pants and shirts sell rather freely, and jerseys are still in request. 1884 Philad. Even. Tel. XLI. No. 8. 2 His assailant tore the pocket from his pants. 1893 A. S. ECCLES Sciatica 37 Cutting off from a pair of merino pants the leg corresponding to the sound and unaffected limb. 1928 R. CAMPBELL Wayzgoose ii. 58 Through pants and vest the God explored. 1930 H. G. WELLS Autocracy of Mr. Parham II. i. 95 He grows more and more independent of the idea that his pants are him. 1940 O. NASH Face is Familiar 91 Sure, deck your lower limbs in pants. 1951 T. STERLING House without Door xiii. 152 She chose her blue underwear... She laid the pants and brassière on her bed. 1956 H. GOLD Man who was not with It (1965) i. 5 Grack..plucked a tricksie in shorts as she wiggled by. He took the thin pants between his horny fingers. 1964, 1968 [see pantskirt s.v. PANT n.3 2]. 1971 New Yorker 11 Sept. 12/1 (Advt.), The back-zippered tunic is a great topper for skirts and pants. 1973 N. MOSS What's the Difference? p. ix, I heard an American student at Cambridge University telling some English friends how he climbed over a locked gate to get into his college and tore his pants, and one of them asked in confusion, ?But how could you tear your pants without tearing your trousers?? 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 20 Nov. 13/2 The men in flannel shirts and work pants stood in the driveway outside the hillside house and talked about Vivien Kellems.
Burton's Gentlemen's Magazine is from the US, philly to be precise.
PANTS ARE PHILADELPHIAN