Braces.
1810. Part of the buckle of his suspenders and several pieces of his coat were extracted from the wound.—Mass. Spy, May 23.
1824. Albert Brown has on hand Gloves, Handkerchiefs, Suspenders, &c.—Advt., id., April 28.
1833. Ben has to mend his suspender, and pull up his breeches.—‘Sketches of D. Crockett,’ p. 40 (N.Y.).
1834. Jest then the Gineral got in a way he has of twitchin with his suspender buttons behind; and to rights he broke one off.—C. A. Davis, ‘Letters of Major Jack Downing,’ p. 149.
1836. The days of the Revolution were before the invention of suspenders.—Phila. Public Ledger, Dec. 28.
1840. His corduroy trowsers had but one suspender to keep them up, thus giving them rather a lop-sided set.—John P. Kennedy, ‘Quodlibet,’ p. 97 (1860).
1840. She was a most voluptuous-looking little creature, with eyes as black as a pair of suspender buttons.—Knick. Mag., xv. 98 (Feb.).
1842. The judicially sober person was found suspended to the ceiling by his suspender.—Phila. Spirit of the Times, Feb. 14.
1847. Is it not enough that we have ‘suspenders,’ or ‘gallowses’ as our youthful nomenclature used to have it…. For one, I have dispensed with both straps and suspenders.—Knick. Mag., xxix. 386 (April).
1847. I have sold to-day a shot bag and a pair of suspenders at $1 each. Thus I am quite in funds again!—‘Life of Benjamin Lundy,’ p. 53 (Phila.).
a. 1848. Don’t try to get up in the world too fast, for a rapid expansion may burst your suspenders.—Dow, Jun., ‘Patent Sermons,’ i. 261.
1850. The boys, throwing off coats, according to custom, when the dance commenced, though a little short in pantaloons, and flush of whip-strings to tie them down, displayed their ‘bran new gallowses,’ alias suspenders.—Knick. Mag., xxxv. 24 (Jan.).
1852. Gentlemen [said an auctioneer] the great beauty of my suspenders consists in the fact that, while they are short enough for any boy, they are long enough for any man.—Mr. Nabers of Mississippi, House of Repr., March 18: Cong. Globe, p. 341, App.
1853. I broke a suspender-button, hopping about like a frog on all-fours.—Weekly Oregonian, Aug. 20.
1854. Next is something that you all ought to have gentlemen; a lot of good gallowses, sometimes called suspenders.—San Francisco News, n.d.
1858. The jury came to the conclusion that the deceased was a German, from the fact of his wearing suspenders.—Wyandotte Argus, n.d.
