plus fours
- noun
- Archaic
:
pantalones de golf
- He wore plus-fours while playing golf on the sunny course.
- plus-fours with socks
- pair of plus fours
- plus fours and argyle
Examples
-
During the charity event, many participants arrived in traditional plus-fours and golf shoes.
-
Devout expression had come into the face of the young man in plus fours, who sat with the.
Fiction book (1998) -
Guards in hunting gear and plus fours with loaded rifles.
Fiction book (1998) -
I mean, Tintin isn't just Indiana Jones in plus fours.
Blog text (17) -
Florence comes racing down the hall to nod at the gray-stubbled old man, decked out in plus-fours.
Fiction book (1991) -
Of course, fishermen and shellfish collectors also wear "wellies," as do others for a variety of purposes, but this appellation also brings to mind plus-fours and deerstalker caps: the gear of the country gentleman.
Academic text (1991) -
The old photo showed him in stylish plus-fours, ready for a day of hunting in the countryside.
Synonyms
2
8.1
Loose knee-length trousers gathered at the knee and worn for sport or old-fashioned dress
Short loose trousers gathered at the knee, often worn by boys or for sports
Surface Forms
Morphology
plus + fours
The components 'plus' and the numeral element 'four(s)' transparently signal an additive measurement (i.e. an extra four inches), so a learner could infer the phrase relates to an item with an additional four units of length. However, the exact referent — a specific style of baggy knickerbockers used for golf — is a conventional, culture-specific lexical item that is not predictable from the parts alone, so full understanding requires prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun plus fours comes from old sports clothing: they are baggy trousers with an extra four inches below the knee. The word plus means 'more' and fours points to those 'four inches', so the name literally describes the added length that helped men move easily when playing golf.