pantaloons

noun

1. pantaloons, a man’s close-fitting garment for the hips and legs, worn especially in the 19th century, but varying in form from period to period; trousers.
2. (usually initial capital letter) Also Pan·ta·lo·ne [pan-tl-oh-ney, pahn-; Italian pahn-tah-law-ne] /ˌpæn tlˈoʊ neɪ, ˌpɑn-; Italian ˌpɑn tɑˈlɔ nɛ/. (in commedia dell’arte) a foolish old Venetian merchant, usually the head of a household, generally lascivious and frequently deceived in the course of lovers’ intrigues.
3. (in the modern pantomime) a foolish, vicious old man, the butt and accomplice of the clown.

pl n

1. 1. historymen’s tight-fitting trousers, esp those fastening under the instep worn in the late 18th and early 19th centuries
   2. children’s trousers resembling these
2. informal, or facetious any trousers, esp baggy ones

noun theatre

1. (in pantomime) an absurd old man, the butt of the clown’s tricks
2. (usually capital) (in commedia dell’arte) a lecherous old merchant dressed in pantaloons

n.1660s, “kind of tights” (originally a French fashion and execrated as such by late 17c. English writers), associated with Pantaloun (1580s), silly old man character in Italian comedy who wore tight trousers over his skinny legs, from Italian Pantalone, originally San Pantaleone, Christian martyr, a popular saint in Venice (Pantaleone in the comedies represents the Venetian). The name is of Greek origin and means “all-compassionate” (or, according to Klein, “entirely lion”). Applied to tight long trousers (replacing knee-breeches) by 1798; pants is a shortened form first recorded 1840. n.skinny, foolish old man in Italian comedy, 1580s; see pantaloons. As a kind of leggings, 1660s.