inexpressibles

English

Etymology

From inexpressible +‎ -s. Compare unmentionables (“underwear”).

Noun

inexpressibles pl (plural only)

1. (colloquial, dated) Breeches, trousers.
   • 1796, Edward Gibbon, letter, in Memoirs of My Life, Penguin 1990, p. 196:

     Have you never observed, through my inexpressibles, a large prominency, circa genitalia? It was a swelled testicle […] .

   • 1833-36, Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz, "The Out and Out Young Gentleman", in The Oxford Illustrated Dickens, p. 596:

     For some years past the favorite costume of the out-and-out young gentleman has been a rough pilot coat, with two gilt hooks and eyes to the velvet collar; buttons somewhat larger than crown-pieces; a black or fancy neckerchief, loosely tied; a wide-brimmed hat, with a low crown; tightish inexpressibles, and iron-shod boots.

   • 1832, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram:

     "Well , my good man ," said he , brushing off , with the arm of his coat , some dust that had settled on his inexpressibles

   • 1903, Joseph Conrad, Falk:

     "I had barely the time, as he made for the cabin door, to grab him by the seat of his inexpressibles.