"dungarees"

[Damien Hall]

In BrE (certainly in my family, but universally AFAIK), dungarees are only
ever what it says in the draft addition to the _OED_, _sv_ 'dungaree':

'Brit. In pl. A garment consisting of trousers with a bib held up by
shoulder straps, typically made from denim, corduroy, or heavy cotton.'

So the material isn't absolutely specified by the name. The garment is as
modelled by Seasick Steve, for example, here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasick_Steve

and by many small children. In BrE, _jeans_ and _dungarees_ are mutually
exclusive; if you mean 'dungarees made of denim', you'll just say 'denim
dungarees', but they will always be the kind of trousers with a bib and
shoulder-straps.

Damien

--
Damien Hall

University of York
Department of Language and Linguistic Science
Heslington
York YO10 5DD
UK

Tel. (office) 01904 432665
     (mobile) 0771 853 5634
Fax  01904 432673
http://www.york.ac.uk/res/aiseb/

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