Dutchman's breeches
- noun
- /ˈdʌtʃmənz ˈbriːtʃɪz/
- US
:
pantalones de holandés
- Plant growth appeared almost tropical, with ten-foot-high cow parsnips, ostrich ferns too dense to walk through, and a forest floor covered with jack-in-the-pulpit, Dutchman's-breeches, and lily of the valley.
Examples
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In early spring, you can find Dutchman's breeches blooming along the forest floor with their distinctive white flowers.
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The delicate white flowers of Dutchman's breeches create a beautiful display in the shaded areas of the woods.
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During our hike, we spotted Dutchman's breeches growing near the creek, showcasing their unique shape and color.
Synonyms
A small spring plant with white, double flowers and thin, lacy leaves
Surface Forms
Morphology
Dutchman's + breeches
The constituents 'Dutchman's' (a person from the Netherlands) and 'breeches' (short trousers) transparently signal a resemblance to a pair of trousers, so a learner could guess the phrase refers to something shaped like breeches. However, the specific category 'a delicate spring-flowering plant' is not predictable from the words alone—the botanical referent requires world knowledge or exposure—so the relation is partial rather than fully compositional.
Etymology
Dutchman's breeches gets its name from its white flowers that hang like tiny pants with two short legs. People thought the shape looked like small breeches, the old trousers of a 'Dutchman', so the name came to mean this spring 'plant'.
