bellbottom trousers

4.2

Trousers with legs that become very wide below the knee

noun
/ˈbɛlˌbɑtəm ˈtraʊzərz/

Archaic

: pantalones de campana

She wore her favorite bellbottom trousers to the party, embracing the vintage style.

Examples

The navy issued bellbottom trousers as part of the sailors' uniforms for decades.
In the 1970s, bellbottom trousers became a symbol of youthful rebellion and disco fashion.
She wore bellbottom trousers to the party.
Did you see his bellbottom trousers from the 70s?
In the 1970s, bellbottom trousers became a symbol of youthful rebellion and disco fashion.
She wore her favorite bellbottom trousers to the party, embracing the vintage style.
The navy issued bellbottom trousers as part of the sailors' uniforms for decades.

Synonyms

bell-bottoms

vsbellbottom trousers

Archaic

3 5.5

Trousers with legs that get wider from the knee down, often worn in the 1960s and 1970s

is the same meaning but presented as a colloquial plural noun form

bellbottom pants

vsbellbottom trousers

Archaic

4.0

Trousers with legs that become wide from the knee downward

is the same meaning but uses a different regional word form

How Flared

bellbottom trousers

Archaic

4.2

skinny jeans

12 2.1

Surface Forms

bellbottom trousers singular

bellbottom trousers plural

Morphology

bellbottom + trousers

The meaning 'trousers with legs that flare widely below the knee' is directly derived from combining the adjective 'bellbottom' (pants that widen from the knees down) with the noun 'trousers' (clothing covering from waist to ankles). This straightforward adjective+noun composition follows a common cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Bellbottom trousers got their name from the way the leg opens out at the lower part, looking like a bell at the bottom. Sailors first wore them because the wide leg could be rolled up or pulled on over boots, and so the name now means 'trousers with wide, bell-shaped legs'.