drawers

A regular plural that covers every meaning of drawer at once: the sliding boxes of a dresser, but also people who draw, artists who make drawings, and those who write a check or bank draft. Context does the sorting. The same spelling also names a garment, and in that use the word has no singular at all; see the old word for legwear.

Here the word has narrowed from the old word for legwear to what is worn underneath, and this is the meaning most speakers still recognize. It sounds dated or regional and suits a homely or humorous tone. John Avanzato's Claim Denied (2016) uses it this way: "I was in my drawers still half asleep." Its closest everyday partner is long johns. In neutral writing, underpants or underwear is the safer choice.

The garment word begins here. It comes from draw, "to pull": the name is for what is pulled onto the body, and it dates from the late sixteenth century. Like trousers, it is plural only, so you wear a pair of drawers, never a drawer. In older texts, read it as legwear in general. A writer today would say breeches or hose instead.

Slang turns the word outward again, toward anything worn on the legs, from shorts and jeans to tights. Many listeners will still hear the underpants meaning first, so make it clear from the surrounding sentence that these clothes are meant to be seen. Keep it for casual talk among people who know the usage.