nicky-tam

English

Etymology

From knickerbockers (due to the shape that the trouser legs adopt) + taum (a cord).

Noun

nicky-tam (plural nicky-tams)

1. A pair of straps or pieces of string tied around the leg below the knee to raise trousers above the level of farmyard dirt.
   • Use for ditching.
   • A Pair of Nicky-Tams Folk song.
2. The same to prevent the ingress of dust and vermin up the trouser leg.
   • Keeping rats out.
3. (by extension) A simpleton or country yokel.
   • Interview with Sir Nicky Tam in the Aberdeen Voice.
   • See also "A Pair of Nicky-Tams".

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “nicky-tam”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.