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a plain-knit cotton fabric, used especially in hosiery and underwear.
Historical Examples

Paper is manufactured on a considerable scale in various places, and balbriggan is celebrated for its hosiery.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 7 Various

balbriggan, a seaport and favourite watering-place, Ireland, county of Dublin; celebrated for its hosiery.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Various

Egyptian cotton is very fine and is used mainly in the manufacture of thread and the finer grades of balbriggan underwear.
Commercial Geography Jacques W. Redway

Six changes of underwear—merino or wool—and a dozen balbriggan or woolen hose will be sufficient.
The Complete Bachelor Walter Germain

The factory girl has taken to silk stockings and fine lingerie and the lady to balbriggan and calico.
Women’s Wild Oats C. Gasquoine Hartley

James Smith, an Englishman, had cotton manufactories at balbriggan; he wished to extend them.
An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Mary Frances Cusack

They were balbriggan stockings of a dark grey, long and fine, and he examined them, before hanging them up to dry.
His Masterpiece Emile Zola

She steps over the stile and her shin defines itself through her balbriggan stocking.
A Christmas Garland Max Beerbohm

balbriggan is much frequented as a watering-place in summer.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Various

I received you letter and the pretty balbriggan stockings, for which I thank you very much, quite safely.
Records of a Girlhood Frances Ann Kemble

noun
a knitted unbleached cotton fabric
(often pl) underwear made of this