- [P-]
- a stock character in commedia dell'arte, usually a slender, foolish old man wearing tight trousers extending to the feet
- a similar figure in modern pantomime, the butt of the clown's jokes
- [pl.]Historical
- tight trousers fastened below the calf or strapped under the boots
- later, any trousers
Origin of pantaloon
French Pantalon from Italian Pantalone, name of a character in 16th-c. Italian comedy, after the Venetian patron saint Pantalone or Pantaleone ( from Classical Greek pantos, panto- + le?n, lion): also used for the garment worn by this character
