Stockings

A stocking is a close-fitting, variously elastic garment covering the foot and lower part of the leg, but usually not intended to conceal the leg. The popularity of stockings has increased year after year in favor over the naked leg look as men find it more appealing on a woman. more...

It was formerly made of woven cloth but now of knitted wool, silk, cotton or nylon (see hosiery). The word stock used to refer to the bottom "stump" part of the body, and by analogy the word was used to refer to the one-piece covering of the lower trunk and limbs of the 1400s—essentially tights consisting of the upper-stocks (later to be worn separately as knee breeches) and nether-stocks (later to be worn separately as stockings). (See Hose.)

Half-stockings, covering the foot and part of the calf only, are commonly called socks. This word is an adaptation of Latin soccus, a slipper or light shoe. It was the shoe worn by the actors in Roman comedy—and so was used symbolically of comedy, as buskin, the high boot, was of tragedy.

In modern usage, stocking specifically refers to the form of women's hosiery configured as two pieces, one for each leg. The term hold-ups refers to stockings that stay up on their own, while the word stockings is the general term or refers to the kind of stockings that need a suspender belt, and are quite distinct from tights or pantyhose (Am English). Thigh highs are often perceived as preferable to pantyhose for various reasons, such as:

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