trunk hose
- noun
- Archaic
:
calzones
- In the 17th century, fashionable men often wore elaborate designs on their trunk hose to display their wealth.
Examples
-
Sir Philip turned, flustered, and ran his hands over his trunk hose.
Fiction book (1993) -
The historical exhibit showcased a pair of colorful trunk hose that belonged to a nobleman from the Tudor era.
-
At the Renaissance fair, many participants donned trunk hose to authentically represent the styles of the period.
Synonyms
1
9.9
Short trousers fastened just below the knee, worn by men in the 1600s and 1700s
1
9.9
Trousers that end above the knee and fasten below it
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound transparently signals a garment related to the 'trunk' (torso) made from or associated with 'hose' (stockings), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a piece of clothing for the torso/upper legs. However, the precise historical form—puffed, short breeches worn over hose—and the archaic fashion sense are not directly predictable from the parts alone, so the expression is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Trunk hose comes from clothes worn in the 1500s and 1600s. The name mixes trunk, meaning the body, and hose, meaning 'stockings'. These were 'short, puffed pants' worn over the hose, so the term came to mean that particular garment.