PANTALOON, on the theatre, is a buffoon or masked
person, who performs high and grotesque dances, and
shows violent and extravagant postures and airs. The
word is likewise used for the habit or dress these buf-
foons usually wear; which is made precisely to the
form of their body, and all of a piece from head to
foot. Panther,
Pantherin.
And hence those who wear a habit of this kind, for
convenience, under their other clothes, are called panta-
looms of Venice.