knickerbockers
noun /ˈnɪkəbɒkəz/
/ˈnɪkərbɑːkərz/
(North American English also knickers)
[plural]- short, loose trousers that fit tightly just below the knee, worn especially in the pastWord Originmid 19th cent. (originally in sense (2)): named after Diedrich Knickerbocker, pretended author of W. Irving's History of New York (1809). Sense (1) is said to have arisen from the resemblance of knickerbockers to the knee breeches worn by Dutch men in George Cruikshank's illustrations in Irving's book.