birthday suit = das Adam(Eva)kostüm, splitternackt —- in one’s birthday suit = so wie Gott jdn. schuf (unbekleidet)
“From Amanda Holden and Nicki Minaj to Gwyneth Paltrow, it seems the only thing you need to get all the Instagram ‘likes’ and set pulses racing is quite literally your ‘BIRTHDAY SUIT’. “
Becky Pemberton — Dare to Bare, The Sun (14th June 2025)
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“Liz Hurley at 60 — do we really need another BIRTHDAY SUIT shoot?
The birthday reveal is now a ritual. But why?”
Helen Rumbelow — The Times (11th June 2025)
(in your) birthday suit
noun phrase (humorous)
- not wearing any clothes
- to be completely naked (as people are at birth)
The Cambridge Dictionary, Dictionary Com
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PHRASE ORIGIN
The phrase “birthday suit" (meaning naked/nude) is from the mid-18th century (first recorded around 1753.
The "suit" is what you were wearing on the day you were born - which was, of course, nothing at all.
The expression emerged during a period when English speakers enjoyed creating witty, indirect ways to reference nudity. Rather than using crude or clinical terms, "birthday suit" provided a genteel, almost whimsical way to refer to the natural human state.
The phrase reflects the 18th-century British tendency toward euphemistic humour - creating polite, clever ways to discuss potentially embarrassing topics. It's similar to other euphemisms of the era that used clothing metaphors for states of undress.
The expression has remained remarkably stable in meaning and usage for nearly 300 years.
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GENTEEL EXPRESSIONS FROM THE PAST
- In a state of nature – naked.
- Paying a call to Mrs. Jones / Powdering one’s nose – using the toilet.
- She’s expecting / in delicate condition – pregnant.
- Entertaining gentlemen callers – receiving male visitors for romantic purposes.
- Not quite the thing – improper, scandalous, or socially unacceptable.
- Well-lubricated – drunk.
- Resting one’s eyes – Sleeping or napping.
- Unmentionables – Underwear or lingerie.
- Gentleman of leisure – unemployed man living on private means.
- Taking the waters – visiting a spa or health resort for treatment.
- Afflicted with the vapours – suffering from nervousness, faintness, or emotional upset.
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SYNONYMS
adamite, al fresco, all natural, altogether, as bare as a baby's bottom, as God made you, as naked as a baby (as a newborn, as the day you were born, as nature intended), au naturel, bare, bare as a newborn, bare as the day you were born, bare-bottomed, bare-buttocked, bare-naked, bare-skinned, BIRTHDAY SUIT, buck naked, buff, buff as a badger, butt naked, clothes-free, disrobed, full-frontal, fully exposed, in a natural state, in one's altogether, in one's natural state, in nothing but your skin, in puris naturalibus, in the altogether, in the buff (the nude (the raw, the skin, the state of nature, your skin), mother naked, naked, naked as a baby (as a jaybird, as a newborn, as Adam, naked as Eve, as the day god made you, to the world), not a stitch on, nude, peeled, raw, sans clothes, sans stitch, sky-clad, skin-clad, starkers, stark naked, stripped bare (down, naked, to the buff), unattired, unclad, unclothed, uncovered, undraped, undressed, ungarbed, unrobed, unwrapped, wearing only a smile, wearing only what God gave you, without a stitch (a thread, threads, vestments)
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SMUGGLE
OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:
“In the summertime in Munich, don’t be surprised to see people in the Englischer Garten sunbathing in their BIRTHDAY SUITS.”
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