Obsolete phrases was: stamps & tokens 2797
OED2 for 'flare, v.1' (note the 1973 citation):
Ah, but what about future versions where - they release scent only when someone's around - they detect pets and release more...
b. transf. A gradual widening or spreading outwards; also, that part which spreads. Also attrib. In pl., flared trousers (orig. U.S.).
Hehe...when I was an undergrad 25+ years ago and in the marching band, our football schedule included Oberlin, which is not too far away. One...
a1910 ÎO. Henryâ Trimmed Lamp (1916) 8 Her skirt is shoddy, but has the correct flare. 1916 Stanford & Forsyth Hist. Music 186 The shawm-player prefers to place his lips+on the widened rim or Îflareâ at the top of the pipe. 1929 Star 21 Aug. 2-4 Cut+with the new smart waist line and full flare skirt. 1964 N.Y. Post 10 Nov. 72 (Advt.), Belted coats, skimmers, flares, demi-fits, the Îinâ silhouettes for dress and casual wear! 1970 Toronto Daily Star 24 Sept. 19-1 (Advt.), Flares+cords+denim bells. 1973 To our Returned Prisoners of War (U.S. Office of Secretary of Defense) 4 Flares, pants which widen as they get to the ankle. Almost like the Navy Bell Bottoms. 1985 S. Lowry Young Fogey Handbk. vi. 52 The rest of the male world sported peach cord flares.
and then a subsidiary definition from 'bell, n.1':
bell-bottomed a., of trousers, having a considerable increase in width from below the knee to the bottom of the leg, giving a bell-shaped appearance; also, of an individual, esp. of a clbutt accustomed to wear such trousers; bell-bottoms n. pl., bell-bottomed trousers;
Don't remember. But I learned to type as an office-boy circa 1947, from an instruction manual from the 20s, on an Underwood also...
I, of course, am far too young to have ever worn 'flares' or 'bell-bottoms' (and I promise that I have never even heard of platform-soled shoes), and I am far too old to admit to the fact in public, even if I have to tell lies in my denial.
Giles
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