tights
- 1A close-fitting garment, sheer or not, worn mainly by women and girls, covering the body from the waist down and usually including the feet.
She layered wool tights under her skirt to stay warm at the bus stop.
A run in her tights spread from the ankle to the knee by lunchtime.
Similarpantyhose
Note
Like trousers and scissors, the word exists only in the plural. You say your tights are laddered, never a tight, and a single garment is still tights. It comes straight from the adjective tight, naming the garment by how closely it fits the body. In US usage, pantyhose covers much the same ground.
- 2A close-fitting, non-sheer garment worn by dancers of either sex, especially ballet dancers.
Every dancer at the audition wore plain black tights and soft shoes.
He pulled his tights up before stepping onto the rehearsal floor.
Note
The studio version drops the gender of the everyday word. Male and female dancers alike wear tights, and in ballet they are part of the working outfit rather than an accessory. Unlike the everyday garment, dancers' tights are never sheer, so here the word suggests opaque, practical wear for rehearsal and performance.
- 3A garment resembling briefs, worn chiefly by professional wrestlers in the ring.
The champion entered wearing gold tights and tall black boots.
He adjusted his tights before the bell rang.
Similartrunks
Note
Ring attire stretches the name furthest. A wrestler's tights may cover little more than briefs would, yet the plural-only word stays the same. They are usually described by color, as in gold tights, and paired with boots as part of the ring outfit. Do not picture the full-length garment here, because the shared name does not mean shared coverage.
- 4In rock blasting, a piece of unbroken rock that remains within the pay limit of a blast.
After the shot, a run of tights blocked the loader from reaching the broken rock.
The foreman marked the tights for a second round of charges.
Note
A miner's word with no garment in it. Tights are rock the blast left whole inside the area it was meant to break. The name fits the adjective tight in its sense of firm and unyielding. Usually counted as a mass, as in a run of tights, they are often marked for a second round of charges before the loader can reach the broken rock.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from the word "tight."