▪ I. trou, trouage, trouant
see trow, trewage, truant.
▪ II. trou, n. colloq.
Brit. /traʊ/, U.S. /traʊ/
[Shortened <trousers n.]
1. orig. U.S. Mil. = trousers n. 2. Now chiefly U.S. and N.Z.
| 1911 Howitzer (U.S. Mil. Acad.) No. 12. 204 I'm here in a pair of scavenged trou, and a cap that's two years old. 1962 J. Quirk No Red Ribbons 80 Mr. Markey, do you know why jailors [sic] have thirteen buttons on their trou? 1970 Harvard Crimson 8 May 13/3 Cotton ones [sc. socks] look better, especially with black trou. 1971 Victoria Coll. of Wellington Tramping Club '71 49 Hey Colonel, you reckon..two grunds, two woollen shirts, long trou.., over trou, swanee, puttees and parka will be enough. 1996 E. Perkins Not her Real Name 167 She imagines him in a polo shirt at the wheel of a boat, cotton trou and loafers, casual but smart. 2006 Dominion Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 7 Jan. 7 He whips off his trou and poses in his boxers. |
2. orig. and chiefly U.S.to drop trou: to pull down one's trousers; spec. = moon v. 4a.
In quot. 1968 used as a humorous phrase expressing surprise, although the literal sense is also present.
| 1968 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3 i. 6 Drop trou, to denote surprise (dropped his trousers)... He dropped trou when I told him he had aced the test. 1974 Evening Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 16 Mar. 1/5, I just ‘dropped trou’ (took off his clothes) at Smoke Hall and ran right past the Office of the Day, through the mess hall and out the other end. 1976 Chicago Tribune 14 Nov. (Mag. section) 29/2 Certain college studs..displayed their naked asses to passersby, an act variously called dropping trou, mooning, [etc.]. 1984 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 12 May a3 (caption) Johnny Carson drops trou during the taping of ‘The Tonight Show’ Friday in a mooning protest of the Soviet Union's boycott. 1996 Time Out N.Y. 14–21 Feb. 6/1 Any lying fool can drop trou, bone away for a night of passion and keep his or her mouth shut. 2001 S. King Dreamcatcher iv. 148, I don't care if you have to drop trou and dance the hootchie-koo. |