# smalls

Pronunciation: say "SMAWLZ" US /smɔlz/, UK /smɔːlz/

## Noun

1. Underwear, especially the smaller garments worn next to the body. *(colloquial, Commonwealth, Ireland, UK)*
   - Simple: Small pieces of underwear, like underpants and socks.
   - _She pegged her smalls along the washing line behind the cottage._
   - _He always kept his smalls separate from the heavier laundry._
2. Plural of small. — plural of small
   - Simple: Plural of small. Use it when talking about more than one small thing.
   - _Only a handful of smalls were left on the clearance rack._
   - _The packers ran short of smalls and substituted the next size up._
3. Small articles of merchandise; goods of low value or modest size.
   - Simple: Small things that are sold, like little items in a shop.
   - _The peddler's pack held nothing but smalls: needles, thread, and tin whistles._
   - _Customers came for the furniture but often left clutching a few smalls instead._
4. Short for small ads. *(colloquial)* — Ellipsis of small ads.
   - Simple: Short for small ads. In British English, the little classified ads in newspapers.
   - _Most of the rooms for rent in town were advertised in the smalls._
   - _He scanned the smalls every Friday looking for a cheap motorcycle._

## Verb

5. Third-person singular simple present of small. — third-person singular simple present indicative of small
   - Simple: The form of small used in the present with he, she, it, or a singular noun such as the dog or water.

## Noun

6. The preliminary examination taken for a degree at Oxford University. *(dated)*
   - Simple: The first exam students took at Oxford University before their degree.
   - _Many a young gentleman dreaded his smalls far more than the final schools._
   - _He sat his smalls in the spring of his first year at Oxford._

## Origin

Formed from the word "small."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/smalls (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).