"A young man--we can sketch his portrait at a dash. Imagine to yourself a Don Quixote of eighteen; a Don Quixote without his corselet, without his coat of mail, without his cuisses..."

cuisse
n.
5ME cuissues < OFr cuisseaux, pl. of cuissel < cuisse, thigh < L coxa, hip: see COXA6 a piece of armor to protect the thigh: see ARMOR, illus. Also cuish 7kwi*8