bathers
English
Etymology
(swimsuit): An abbreviation of bathing costume. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “This does not explain the -ers.”)
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
bathers
- plural of bather
- (Australia) A swimsuit; a bathing costume.
- 2001, Laurene Kelly, The Crowded Beach[1], page 10:
- The bathers they wore looked sort of the same as now, but their hair was really different.
- 2008, Lyn Aldred, Neptune's Fingers[2], page 10:
- No one here wore bathers. Both boys wore their homemade underpants, the brand name, ‘Sydney Flour’, emblazoned across the back, as old flour bags were not wasted, but recycled.
- 2009, Jacqueline Ann Wharton, Freedom Through Adversity: Ten Steps to Overcoming a Troubled Mind[3], page 69:
- I was looking at a pair of bathers to buy and talking about the life of the bathers and how to extend their life.
Synonyms
(swimsuit): budgie smugglers, cozzie, Speedos