big-boy pants
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.38 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Pull-up underwear worn by a boy during and after toilet training, as contrasted to the diapers worn during infancy.
Informal
Example Sentences
- "Taking the baby from Kidd she snatched the screaming Davey by the wrist and half-carried him up the stairs yelling, "You wanna wear big-boy pants? Big boys wear big-boy pants, but big boys use the potty!""
- ""And so," you continue, "I'm putting your diapers away because you can now wear big boy pants and do your poop and pee-pee in the potty chair all by yourself.""
- "“We've switched to big-boy pants. No more diapers,” his mom said a little too loud, so Alec would hear."
- "If Horwitz is planning on running for office again in the future (and it certainly looks that way), perhaps it's time he put on his big-boy pants and engage in civil discourse."
- "He needs to put on his big boy pants and make the tough choice."
- "Even with a broken finger, Wach put on his big boy pants, wrapped his hand, and dominated on the offensive line all game."
Etymology
From big boy.