Galligaskins

Word of the Day for Tuesday 4^th February 2014

Galligaskins \gal-i-GAS-kinz\, noun:

1. leggings or gaiters, usually of leather.
2. loose hose or breeches worn in the 16th and 17th centuries.

He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather.
-- Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle, 1819

In galligaskins and filthy leather, his hat lost, his hair all elf-locks, he staggered toward WS.
-- Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare's Love Life, 1964

Galligaskins is of obscure origin, though it's often associated with the now-obsolete French word garguesques. It entered English in the 1570’s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com