Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric for underwear.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An unbleached, knitted, cotton fabric mostly used for underwear.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cotton knit fabric used for underwear

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Balbriggan, a seaport of eastern Ireland.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Balbriggan, a place in Ireland.

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Examples

  • The most popular lunchtime dish, Mr. Boyle says, is the balbriggan salmon, served atop sweet potatoes and spinach in a sweet malt vinegar sauce.

    Beer Snob's Paradise 2010

  • The balbriggan cotton cup dangled in the air as Milt expanded the length of elastic, then released it with a snap.

    Hearts STEF ANN HOLM 2001

  • The balbriggan cotton cup dangled in the air as Milt expanded the length of elastic, then released it with a snap.

    Hearts STEF ANN HOLM 2001

  • The balbriggan cotton cup dangled in the air as Milt expanded the length of elastic, then released it with a snap.

    Hearts STEF ANN HOLM 2001

  • The balbriggan cotton cup dangled in the air as Milt expanded the length of elastic, then released it with a snap.

    Hearts STEF ANN HOLM 2001

  • Six changes of underwear -- merino or wool -- and a dozen balbriggan or woolen hose will be sufficient.

    The Complete Bachelor Manners for Men Walter Germain

  • But fancy the shock to one's æstheticism at seeing coarse balbriggan allied to barbaric splendour.

    A Woman's Journey through the Philippines On a Cable Ship that Linked Together the Strange Lands Seen En Route Florence Kimball Russel

  • There were men in complete Moro costume, handsome and picturesque; others ruining their appearance by the addition of a hideous balbriggan undershirt, sandwiched between tight trousers with innumerable buttons and a brilliantly coloured turban; while still others, in little else than a fez and breech-clout, seemed not a whit abashed.

    A Woman's Journey through the Philippines On a Cable Ship that Linked Together the Strange Lands Seen En Route Florence Kimball Russel

  • Martin Dockerill ate pun'kin pie with his fingers, played "Marching through Georgia" on the mouth-organ, admired burlesque-show women in sausage-shaped pink tights, and wore balbriggan socks that always reposed in wrinkles over the tops of his black shoes with frayed laces.

    The Trail of the Hawk A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life Sinclair Lewis 1918

  • After a pause, Aunt Selina got up heavily and went upstairs, coming down soon after with a bundle covered with a green shawl, and with a white balbriggan stocking trailing from an opening in it.

    When a Man Marries Mary Roberts Rinehart 1917

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