briefs

See also: Briefs

English

A pair of men's briefs

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹiːfs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːfs

Noun

briefs

1. plural of brief

Noun

briefs pl (plural only)

1. (usually in the plural) A very short, close-fitting type of underpants.
   • 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 124:

     [S]he learned not to iron my footy briefs and leave creases in them - the blokes bagged my creases for weeks[.]

   • 2008, Dan Peek, Why Do They Dress That Way?: People’s Place Book No. 7, page 80:

     Briefs for men and women were not popular in America until the 1930s.

   • 2010, Robert Trando, Letters Of A Vietnamese Émigré, page 83:

     A white tiger sat at the entrance, showing its white fangs in a wide-open bloody mouth. The sinister decorum would make you wet your briefs.

   • 2012, Dan Stephenson, The Underwater Widow:

     Yes, Gentlemen’s Quarterly wrote that Archie wears briefs, like it was something everyone wanted to know.

2. Swimming briefs.
   • 2012, Luis Algorri, You’ll Hear From Me: A Gay Story about Passion and Love:

     I fetched my briefs, pulled them on, and we left the changing room.

3. (chiefly Australia, informal) Male underpant bikini briefs.
   • 2012, Joe Tog, Aussie Prison Breaks: Not All Escapees Are Desperados:

     Galvanised, I jumped--the clatter of keys rang clear as I thrust the knife, handle down, into the back of my briefs.

4. (euphemistic) An adult diaper.

Usage notes

Despite being a single item of clothing, briefs—like pants, trousers, underpants, &c.—are considered to come in "pairs" and are counted using the phrase "pair(s) of".

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:underwear
• See also Thesaurus:swim briefs.

Derived terms

• bikini briefs
• boxer briefs
• control brief
• diaper briefs
• incontinence briefs
• jockey briefs
• midway briefs
• protective briefs
• racing briefs
• swim briefs
• swimming briefs
• tanga briefs
• trunk briefs

Translations

male underwear

• Arabic: سِرْوَال اَلسُّنَة m (sirwāl as-suna)

  Egyptian Arabic: كلوت m (kulut), سلب m (sleb), لباس m (lebaas), أندر m (ʔandar)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貼身短內褲 / 贴身短内裤 (tiēshēn duǎnnèikù)

• Czech: slipy (cs) m pl (male underwear)
• Dutch: slip (nl)
• Esperanto: kalsoneto
• Finnish: pikkuhousut (fi), alushousut (fi)
• French: (Europe) slip (fr) m, (Quebec, Louisiana, Missouri, New England) bobettes (fr) f pl
• German: Unterhose (de) f
• Hebrew: תחתונים (he) m pl
• Hungarian: alsónadrág (hu), gatya (hu)
• Italian: slip (it) m pl
• Japanese: ブリーフ (ja) (burīfu)
• Luxembourgish: Slip m
• Polish: majtki (pl) nvir pl, slipy (pl) nvir pl, gacie (pl) nvir pl, gatki (pl) nvir pl
• Portuguese: cueca (pt) f
• Russian: трусы́ (ru) m pl (trusý), бри́фы (ru) m pl (brífy)
• Spanish: slip (es), calzoncillo (es) m, trusa (es) f
• Thai: กางเกงใน (th) (gaang-geeng-nai), กางเกงลิง (th) (colloquial)
• Welsh: trôns m, trônsiau m pl

Verb

briefs

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of brief

Anagrams

• FBIers, fibers, fibres