smallclothes

noun

1. (plural, plural-only)Knee-length breeches, worn especially in the 18th century.

   “Even fashions, otherwise convenient, as the trousers that have so long taken place of smallclothes, often perhaps owe their continuance to some general defect . . .”

   “'Only look at his jacket, mother!' cried Annie; 'and a shillingsworth gone from his small-clothes!'”

2. (British, archaic, plural, plural-only)Underwear and other small items of clothing.

   “One hand slid up her thigh and underneath her smallclothes.”

   “Are red socks a secret handshake, a mark of Etonhood, of an allegiance to the place both claimed and disclaimed? And having seen one pair I'm noticing them all over the place, a conspiracy of smallclothes.”