sans-culotte, n. [F., without breeches.].
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A fellow without breeches; a ragged fellow; -- a name of reproach given in the first French revolution to the extreme republican party, who rejected breeches as an emblem peculiar to the upper classes or aristocracy, and adopted pantaloons. [1913 Webster]
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Hence, an extreme or radical republican; a violent revolutionist; a Jacobin. [1913 Webster]