trousered class

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trousered class (plural trousered classes)

1. The social class of those who are educated and who perform skilled work for a living.
   • 1965, Sri Lanka. Pārlimēntuva. Senate, Parliamentary Debates - Volume 22, Issues 16-27, page 2461:

     From 1947 to 1956 the so-called freedom was simply confined to the trousered class, the capitalist class, the class who could ride in big limousines.

   • 1973, Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, Peoples of the earth - Volume 12, page 120:

     They are part of the 'trousered class', highly educated and westernized.

   • 1991, Kurt A. Gingrich, Education and Empire:

     He joined the "trousered" class, which included "journalists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, clerks, ministers, managers, police, soldiers, students, and artists."

   • 2005, Trevor Griffiths, These are the Times: A Life of Thomas Paine, page 13:

     In one half, merchants, professionals, speculators and country gentry, wigged, stocked, breeched and buckled, hold a million post-mortems on the day's dealings. In the other, the trousered classes - artisans, skillmen, journeymen - argue the toss over ale and pie. The boundary is fluid, but the lines are clearly drawn.