ˈstep-in, n. and a.
[f. vbl. phr. to step in: see step v. 25.]
A. n. A garment or shoe put on by stepping into it; spec. in pl., loose drawers (more recently, brief panties) for women (chiefly U.S.).
| 1922 Woman's Home Compan. June 70 (caption) The children like to wear step-ins. 1928 Sunday Dispatch 15 July 16 The same couturière is all for ‘step ins’ for swimmers. 1934 [see scanty n.]. 1939 M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 131/1 Step-in, shoe with no obvious method of fastening, usually held on snugly by an elastic gore. 1946 Wodehouse Money in Bank xxvii. 234 A bottle of brandy which she..kept stowed away..in a drawer underneath her step-ins. 1958 S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) ii. xx. 208 Her brassière and step-ins plastered wetly to her body. 1964 P. White Burnt Ones 86 Eileen began to pull. Her step-ins had eaten into her. 1975 J. Gores Hammett (1976) xxii. 153 The upended torcher wore no step-ins under her tight red sequins. |
B. attrib. or as adj. Designating a garment or shoe of this type.
| 1923 Weekly Dispatch 18 Feb. 12 Step-in cami⁓knickers. 1960 Amer. Speech XXXV. 79 These dresses were listed variously as..‘a step-in sundress of acetate’, and ‘a step-in charmer’. 1975 Times 3 May 8/2 The ‘step⁓in’ dress with buttons down the front, which permitted a woman to step into a dress instead of pulling it over her head. |