nicky-tam
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From knickerbockers (due to the shape that the trouser legs adopt) + taum (a cord).
Noun[edit]
nicky-tam (plural nicky-tams)
- A pair of straps or pieces of string tied around the leg below the knee to raise trousers above the level of farmyard dirt.
- Use for ditching.
- A Pair of Nicky-Tams Folk song.
- The same to prevent the ingress of dust and vermin up the trouser leg.
- (by extension) A simpleton or country yokel.
- Interview with Sir Nicky Tam in the Aberdeen Voice.
- See also "A Pair of Nicky-Tams".
References[edit]
- John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “nicky-tam”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.