knickerbocker

noun

knick·​er·​bock·​er ˈni-kər-ˌbä-kər How to pronounce knickerbocker (audio)
ˈni-kə-
1
knickerbockers ˈni-kər-ˌbä-kərz How to pronounce knickerbocker (audio)
ˈni-kə-
plural : knickers
2
Knickerbocker : a descendant of the early Dutch settlers of New York
broadly : a native or resident of the city or state of New York
used as a nickname

Examples of knickerbocker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The Cavaliers and Pistons have exhausted each other in a seven-game series that won’t end until Sunday, while the Knickerbockers have been off since last Sunday. Alex Kirshner, New York Times, 16 May 2026 Also known as the panic of 1907, the knickerbocker crisis is now largely forgotten, but the economic nightmare was burned into the memories of those who lived around the turn of the 20th century. Bywill Daniel, Fortune, 17 Mar. 2024 Suits included boyish shorts or knickerbockers more often than a trouser. Washington Post, 14 Jan. 2020 They were originally modeled after classic knickerbockers: broad and billowy from the waist to the calf, and then skin tight to the ankle. Pete Forester, Esquire, 7 Sep. 2017 There was that about him which spoke of knickerbockers and romping childhood laid aside but yesterday. Rosa Inocencio Smith, The Atlantic, 5 June 2017 This image, of a fair-haired child dressed as a page boy, in cape and knickerbockers, adorns the cover of the American edition of Sebald’s novel. James Wood, The New Yorker, 31 May 2017

Word History

Etymology

Diedrich Knickerbocker, fictitious author of History of New York (1809) by Washington Irving

First Known Use

1820, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of knickerbocker was in 1820

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Knickerbocker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knickerbocker. Accessed 27 May. 2026.

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