spatterdashes

Definitions

Coverings for the legs, to protect them from water and mud; long gaiters.

plural, plural-normally

Examples

“[W]’i my firelock, and my bagnet, and my spatterdashes […] I was a pretty sight in my soldiering days.”

“Over the winter-solid Roads, goes a great seething,— of mounted younger Gentlemen riding together by the dozens upon rented horses, Express⟳ Messengers in love⟳ with pure Velocity, Disgruntl'd Suitors with Pistols stuff'd in their Spatterdashes, seal'd Waggons not even a western Black-Boy would think⟳ of detaining.”

CEFR level