From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpantspants1 /pænts/ ●●● S3 noun [plural] 1 especially American EnglishDCC a piece of clothing that covers you from your waist to your feet and has a separate part for each leg SYN trousers British English She was wearing dark blue pants and a white sweater.2 British EnglishDCC a piece of underwear that covers the area between your waist and the top of your legs SYN underpants American English → knickers, briefs, boxer shorts3 → bore/scare etc the pants off somebody4 → beat the pants off somebody5 → somebody puts his pants on one leg at a time6 → (since somebody was) in short pants → do something by the seat of your pants at seat1(10), → catch somebody with their pants down at catch1(6), → wear the pants/trousers at wear1(7)
Examples from the Corpus
pants• The thrift men wear absurd combinations of checkered pants and checkered polyester jackets with wide lapels.• When he opens his pants, they sigh.• He whacked his pants leg with the dowel.• And doesn't she look cheeky in those figure-hugging pants.• Tony Rich, wearing a fleece-trimmed black jacket with black satin pants and a derby.• The tests scare the pants off many managers.• Though, mind you, it scares the pants off poor old Crumwallis.pantspants2 adjective [not before noun] British English spoken informal very bad The concert was pants.Origin pants (1800-1900) pantaloons 