go commando

Verb

go commando (third-person singular simple present goes commando, present participle going commando, simple past went commando, past participle gone commando)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To not wear underwear (chiefly underpants) under one's outer clothing.
   • Ross: … why do you have to wear underwear tonight?
     Joey: It's a rented tux, 'kay? I'm not gonna go commando in another man's fatigues.1996, Friends (TV series), "The One Where No One's Ready" [3.02], Act 2, approx. 12 minutes (of 23)
   • A little girl in pink exited one of the stalls with her mother behind her. “I wear big girl underpants now!” she proclaimed. She looked up at my sister. “Do you wear big girl underpants?” Nicki stared down at her. “No, I generally go commando.”2008, Jennifer Weiner, The Guy Not Taken, →ISBN
2. (broadly) To forgo standard protections.
   • I was one of the only soldiers out there wearing hearing protection; all the rest just went commando.2005, Shane A. Bernskoetter, Surviving Twilight: A soldier's chronicle of daily life in Iraq, →ISBN
   • Does this mean you shouldn’t bother setting a password on your network? Absolutely not — WPA/WPA2 are still much better options than WEP or going commando, but it's important to realize that these “protected” setups aren't bulletproof.2013 September 16, Michael Gregg, “Is Anything Safe Online?”, in Huffington Post
3. (rare) To forgo something usually considered standard equipment.
   • When you want to learn how to use a specific piece of gear, such as a new lens, or master a specific technique, I advise that you go commando. When you go commando, you take just enough gear to master the technique you want to learn or only the lens with which you want to become more familiar.2011, Doug Sahlin, Digital Landscape and Nature Photography For Dummies, page 134
   • Coding Horror author Jeff Atwood believes, “One of the quickest ways to increase your productivity on the computer is to go commando: stop using the mouse.”2015 August 24, Firas Kittaneh, “10 Ways to Kill the Distractions and Supercharge Your Productivity”, in Entrepreneur