PANTALOON (Ital. pantalone)  , a character in the old Italian popular comedy, said to represent a Venetian, from the favourite Venetian saint San Pantaleone, and transferred from it to pantomime (q.v.) . The Italian pantaloon was always a silly old man with spectacles and wearing slippers, and his character was maintained in pantomime and has also made his name a synonym for a tottering dotard, as in Shakespeare's As You Like It (Ir. vii . 158) . From the Venetian usage the word " pantaloon " (whence "pants ") has also been given to certain forms of garment for the legs, the exact meaning varying at different times .