unmentionables love

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Trousers or breeches, as an article of dress not to be mentioned in polite circles; inexpressibles.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural Jocose The breeches; trousers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun plurale tantum undergarments, underwear, drawers
  • noun plurale tantum, obsolete breeches, trousers

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Victorian Era euphemism, specifically the category of euphemism known as indirection (compare privates, behind, sleep together). First intended meaning was "trousers", attested from 1823. Meaning "underwear" is recorded from 1910.

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Examples

  • Thus euphemisms are used for undergarments, notably those in touch with the intimate parts, or even, as in the case of the word unmentionables, the trousers worn above these.

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2008

  • Don Sharp Springfield, Missouri Speaking of the Unmentionables In the nineteenth century, the Age of Euphemism, the word unmentionables designated only one specific referent -- men's trousers.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XVIII No 2 1991

  • Figuring if they wanted to look in a bag I would pull the duffle out and open it revealing a totally unreasonable amount of footwear, the next thing had "unmentionables" in full view ... they didn't want to look at anything and told me to have a good summer. jerezano

    Page 2 2008

  • Figuring if they wanted to look in a bag I would pull the duffle out and open it revealing a totally unreasonable amount of footwear, the next thing had "unmentionables" in full view ... they didn't want to look at anything and told me to have a good summer. jerezano

    Page 2 2008

  • Figuring if they wanted to look in a bag I would pull the duffle out and open it revealing a totally unreasonable amount of footwear, the next thing had "unmentionables" in full view ... they didn't want to look at anything and told me to have a good summer. jerezano

    Page 2 2008

  • Figuring if they wanted to look in a bag I would pull the duffle out and open it revealing a totally unreasonable amount of footwear, the next thing had "unmentionables" in full view ... they didn't want to look at anything and told me to have a good summer. jerezano

    Page 2 2008

  • We found it with contraceptive devices, trusses and other 'unmentionables' and even though everyone understood what a 'jockstrap' was, even its polite name of 'male support' couldn't be seen here.

    Product Support Peter Ashley 2008

  • Figuring if they wanted to look in a bag I would pull the duffle out and open it revealing a totally unreasonable amount of footwear, the next thing had "unmentionables" in full view ... they didn't want to look at anything and told me to have a good summer. jerezano

    Page 2 2008

  • Figuring if they wanted to look in a bag I would pull the duffle out and open it revealing a totally unreasonable amount of footwear, the next thing had "unmentionables" in full view ... they didn't want to look at anything and told me to have a good summer. jerezano

    Page 2 2008

  • In the pilot episode the young and attractive Bridget Hanley is hanging her laundry on the deck of her sailing ship and Bobby Sherman asks her why she is showing the crew her "unmentionables," to which she replies: "They know I wear it, why shouldn't they know I wash it?"

    Norman Horowitz: Here Come the Brides 2009

Comments

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  • "His little man-o'-war top and unmentionables were full of sand ..."

    Joyce, Ulysses, 13

    January 14, 2007