short, loose trousers that fit tightly just below the knee, worn especially in the past (尤指旧时穿的膝下扎紧的)灯笼裤 Word Originmid 19th cent. (originally in sense (2)): named after Diedrich Knickerbocker, pretended author of W. Irving's History of New York (1809). Sense (1) is said to have arisen from the resemblance of knickerbockers to the knee breeches worn by Dutch men in George Cruikshank's illustrations in Irving's book.