union suit

noun

1. a close-fitting, knitted undergarment combining shirt and drawers in one piece and often having a drop seat.

Word History and Origins

Origin of union suit¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

It sure beats racing through the yard on a cold night, trying to wiggle out of a scratchy union suit just to use the spider-infested outhouse in the pitch-black dark.

From Washington Times

Better yet, women could ditch the corset entirely in favor of one-piece union suits.

From Washington Post

Grandpa walked over to the washstand and poured some water into the big flowerdy bowl, but I just pulled off down to my union suit and turned back the covers.

From Literature

Copp may be the reason that my wife and her siblings and both our children have always had good vocabularies: destitute, vituperative, locality, inauspicious, gauche, megalomaniac, union suit.

From The New Yorker

Milt would slip into his black union suit, cape, mask, and emerge ready to battle upperclass bullies—Thwack!

From Salon