birthday suit
5
8.0
- noun
- NSFW
:
desnudez
- You caught me in my birthday suit, butt-naked.
- wearing my birthday suit
- around in my birthday suit
Examples
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Twenty-five percent are most likely to work in their PJs, while 7 percent keep it simple—real simple—working from home in their underwear or birthday suit.
Blog text (25) -
Haven't seen a hint of modesty in my 4-year-old boy yet; he got the paper off the porch this morning in his birthday suit.
Blog text (26) -
- I still wanna see you in your birthday suit.
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I want you to see me in my birthday suit.
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And Dawn could wear her birthday suit.
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Be bold and cute Show the boys your birthday suit
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He's in his birthday suit.
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You sure you don't wanna borrow my birthday suit?
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I'd love to go, but I can't get the wrinkles out of my birthday suit.
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He enjoyed swimming in the ocean in his birthday suit during the hot summer days.
Synonyms
2
8.6
Completely without clothes like when you were born
Completely naked
Completely without clothes, as when someone is born
Completely without clothes like at birth
A state of having no clothes on
Surface Forms
Morphology
birthday + suit
A B1 learner who knows 'birthday' (a celebration) and 'suit' (an item of clothing) would most likely interpret 'birthday suit' as some kind of outfit for a birthday; the idiomatic meaning 'naked' (i.e. the state one had at birth) is a culturally based metaphor not recoverable from the literal parts. Because the intended sense is metaphorical and counterintuitive without prior exposure, this expression is opaque to learners.
Etymology
Birthday suit may come from a joking idea about what you wear at birth. A suit used to mean 'clothes', so your birthday suit is the 'clothes' you had when you were born — none, which is why it means 'naked'.