pantaloon

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French pantalon, from Italian Pantalone (a character in Commedia dell'arte), from Spanish Pantaleon (surname).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pæntəˈluːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːn

Noun

pantaloon (plural pantaloons)

1. An aging buffoon.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], line 37:

     Hic ibat, as I told you before, —Simois, I am
     Lucentio, hic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa,—
     Sigeia tellus, disguised thus to get your love; —
     Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes
     a-wooing, — Priami, is my man Tranio, —
     regia, bearing my port, celsa senis, that we
     might beguile the old pantaloon.

   • 1882, William Ballantine, Some Experiences of a Barrister's Life, page 234:

     They constantly followed the virtuous pair, who as constantly eluded their grasp, whilst they themselves met with every kind of misfortune, until they became clown and pantaloon, […] .

   • 1960, Lady Caroline Lane Reynolds Slemmer Jebb, With Dearest Love to All: The Life and Letters of Lady Jebb, page 213:

     The Bishop is a lean and slippered pantaloon, at least in his old clerical garments which he thinks good enough for the sea.

2. Trousers reminiscent of the tight-fitting leggings traditionally worn by a pantaloon.
3. A kind of fabric.

Related terms

• pantaloons