Dutchman's breeches
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English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Dicentra_cucullaria_-_Dutchmans_Breeches_2.jpg/220px-Dicentra_cucullaria_-_Dutchmans_Breeches_2.jpg)
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]In the case of the plants, named because their flower petals resemble baggy pants worn by Dutch settlers to North America (compare slops, knickerbockers).
Noun
[edit]Dutchman's breeches pl (plural only)
- A plant of the species Dicentra cucullaria, native to eastern North America and the Columbia River basin.
- Synonyms: boys and girls, Indian boys and girls
- A plant of the species Lamprocapnos spectabilis, formerly Dicentra spectabilis, similar to D. cucullaria, but red or pink.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Dutchman, -'s, breeches.
- 1915, Harold Donaldson Eberlein, The Architecture of Colonial America (Library of American civilization)[2], →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 14:
- We have all heard it said of the Dutchman's breeches that they could be made to contain whatever objects could be forced through the pocket apertures, and the number of things that the Dutchman could stow away in the baggy recesses of his nether garments has always been a source of wonder to the foreigner.
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]Dicentra cucullaria
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Further reading
[edit]Dutchman's breeches on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Dicentra cucullaria on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
Dicentra cucullaria on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
- Dutchman's breeches at USDA Plants database