tights, n. pl.
(taɪts)
[Elliptical use of tight a.]
a. Tight-fitting breeches, worn by men in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and still forming part of court-dress.
| 1827 M. Wilmot Let. 24 May (1935) 260 His [sc. a jockey's] shirt-collar was open, so were the knees of his ‘tights’. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxi, The frill of his shirt, extending from his collar to the waistband of his nankeen tights, which were finished off at his knees with huge bunches of riband. 1857 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 26 A pair of common nankeen tights, to button below the calf. 1889 W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy 1, If tights and trunks came in again. |
b. Garments of thin elastic material, fitting tight to the skin, worn by dancers, acrobats, and others to facilitate their movements or display the form; skin-tights. Sometimes covering the whole body, but usually the legs only.
| 1836–7 Dickens Sk. Boz, Mrs. Joseph Porter (1870) 300 None of the performers could walk in their tights, or move their arms in their jackets. 1845 Alb. Smith Fort. Scatterg. Fam. xlii. (1887) 140 Gentlemen in flesh tights jumped over strips of cloth, coming down on the horse again. 1897 Times 4 Oct. 8/1 [She] would be well advised to abandon her tights and resume the garb of her sex. |
c. A woman's or girl's one-piece stretchable garment covering the legs and body up to the waist, worn in place of stockings; formerly, an undergarment taking the place of knickers and stockings.
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 241/2 Ladies' summer drawers and tights..Ladies' fine jersey ribbed fast black open summer tights,..knee length. 1908 Ibid. 962 Wool and fleece lined underwear for children..Union suits, tights and sleeping garments. 1929 R. S. & H. M. Lynd Middletown xii. 159 Today flannel underwear is almost as obsolete as the long black equestrian tights, high-necked, long-sleeved nightgowns for women, and the heavily-lined trousers of the working men of a generation ago. 1965 P. O'Donnell Modesty Blaise ix. 105 Modesty wore..a full black skirt, with black stretch tights. 1967, 1970 [see panty-hose s.v. panties 3]. 1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds xviii. 469 A five-guinea pair of tights. |