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Origin and history of Knickerbocker

Knickerbocker

"descendant of Dutch settlers of New York," 1831, from Diedrich Knickerbocker, the name under which Washington Irving published his popular "History of New York" (1809). The pen-name was borrowed from Irving's friend Herman Knickerbocker, and literally means "toy marble-baker," from German knicker, schoolboy slang for "marble," apparently an agent-noun from the imitative verb knikken "to snap."

also from 1831

Entries linking to Knickerbocker

knickers(n.)

1866, in reference to loose-fitting pants for men worn buckled or buttoned at the waist and knees, shortening of knickerbockers (1859), said to be so called for their resemblance to the trousers of old-time Dutchmen in Cruikshank's illustrations for Washington Irving's "History of New York" (see Knickerbocker). As "short, loose-fitting undergarment for women," by 1882, now the usual sense.

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    Dictionary entries near Knickerbocker
    • kneepad
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    • knelt
    • Knesset
    • knew
    • Knickerbocker
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    • knick-knack
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    • knighthood
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