▪ I. coat, n.
(kəʊt)
Forms: 4–7 cote, (4 coete, 4–6 coot(e, kote, 6 cot, cott(e, cootte, Sc. coit), 6–7 coate, 7– coat.
[ME. cote, a. OF. cote (mod.F. cotte petticoat), corresp. to Pr., Sp., Pg. cota It. cotta, med.L. cotta, in text of 9th c. Beside this OF., Pr., Cat. had cot masc., med.L. cottus. The origin of the Romanic words is doubtful. OHG. had chozzo, choz masc., chozza fem., MHG. kotze m., Ger. kotze fem., a coarse shaggy woollen stuff, and a garment made of it, and OS. cot(t) ‘woollen cloak or coat’, which, though not found in the other Teut. langs., are on other grounds supposed to be native words, and the sources of the Romanic words: but the converse seems not impossible.]
I. A garment.
1. a. An outer garment worn by men; usually of cloth, with sleeves.
In olden times the name was sometimes given to a tunic or close-fitting garment coming no lower than the waist (cf. waistcoat); and it was especially applied to the close-fitting tunic which when armed constituted the coat of mail (sense 5), as in quots. c 1300, c 1475. In modern use, coat means a garment for the body with loose skirts descending below the waist.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 2413 Ther was..mony bore thorugh the scheld. Ther was kut mony a kote. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 152 A strayt cote ful streȝt..A mere mantile abof. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 328 He rode but homely in a medlee cote. a 1400–50 Alexander 5471 Sum of seelis of þe see sendis to him cotes. c 1475 Partenay 4218 Such a stroke hym dalt ther vppon his cote ne had the hauberke smal mail be..ille hym had come. 1530 Palsgr., Cote for a ladde, jacquette. 1532–3 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 13 Dublettes and sleuelesse cotes. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 74 Your cord and lowsie coit and sark. 1737 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 52 He was as black as your coat with the blows which they had given him. 1853 Maurice Theol. Ess. v. 96 They may put on coats without collars and become stiff Anglicans. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Relig. Wks. II. 98 They never saw a poor man in a ragged coat inside a church. |
b. With special qualifications in special senses, as
black coat,
dress coat,
frock coat,
great coat,
red coat, etc.; see
black,
dress, etc.
2. a. A garment worn suspended from the waist by women or young children; a petticoat, a skirt. Usually in
pl. = petticoats; also, the skirts of a dress.
Obs. in literary
lang., but widely used in dialects.
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 47 Her cote was somdel to-tore. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 50 A cote and a smocke that ye gave to too pore women [Fr. une cotte et une chemise]. Ibid. 65 This woman had tenne diverse gownes and as mani cotes. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 19, I haue shapen a cote to the quiene of heuen. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax (1814) 43 Not refusing russet coats. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. iii. 16. 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. vii. 54 Donna Rodriguez tuck'd up her Coats. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 341 For the Languages, or Philosophy, that Ingenious Gentlewoman at Utricht, may in her long Coates put some black coates to the Blush. 16.. Locke (J.), A friend's younger son, a child in coats. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xx. 32, I had a pretty good camblet quilted coat. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. I. iii. 104 A..gown, or body, with ample coats to it. 1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea xv. (1873) 316, I have seen the women of Auchmittrie ‘kilt their coats’ and rush into the water in order to aid in shoving off the boats. 1883 H. Watterson Oddities Southern Life 478 My wife..hoisted her coats and waded through. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Coats, petticoats. |
b. Sometimes used for a woman's outer garment;
esp. in
mod. use, a stout buttoned overcoat.
| 1670 Mrs. E. in Evelyn's Mem. (1857) IV. 20 Fitting my little niece with a mantle coat, bodice coat, petticoat narrow shoes and stockings. 1770–90 D. Kilner Jemima Placid in Storehouse of Stories (1870) 236 All the rest of the ladies will wear either gauze frocks or silk coats full trimmed. 1889 Draper's Sale Catalogue, Ladies' Long Cloth Coats, tight-fitting, tailor-made. Girls' Cloth Jackets, Coats, Ulsters, etc. 1890 Mrs. Oliphant Janet I. ii, Her own hat put on and her coat buttoned to the throat. |
3. Used to translate ancient words, L.
tunica,
Gr. χιτών (
chiton),
Heb. k'thōneth,
kuttōneth. (The first two are now usually rendered
tunic, or left untranslated.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 43 Crist bad men sille þer cootis and bie hem swerdis. 1382 ― Gen. iii. 21 The Lord God forsothe made to Adam and his wijf lether cootes. ― Song Sol. v. 3, I [the Bride] spoilede me of my coote. c 1400 Mandeville ii. (1839) 9 The Cros of our Lord..and his Cote withouten Semes. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 654/31 Hec tunica, cote. 1534 Tindale Matt. v. 40 And yf eny man will..take away thy coote, let hym haue thy cloocke also. 1611 Bible Gen. xxxvii. 3 He made him a coat of many colours. 1844 Newspapers, John Ronge, and the ‘Holy Coat’ of Treves. |
4. Her. = coat of arms.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 637 Þe pen-tangel nwe He ber in schelde & cote. 1484 Caxton Chivalry 68 A Cote is gyuen to a knyghte in sygnefyaunce of the grete trauaylles that a knyght must suffre for to honoure chyualrye. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. i. 17 They may giue the dozen white Luces in their Coate. 1663 Gerbier Counsel F j a, Whose Coat was three Toades, Sable field Or. 1671 Shadwell Humourists iii. Wks. 1720 I. 172 The Coat of our Family, which is an Ass rampant. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xix. 477 He sued for the privilege of his heraldic coat. |
| fig. 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 236 She was sought by spirits of ritchest cote. |
5. coat of mail: a piece of defensive armour covering the upper part of the body, composed of a linen or leathern jacket, quilted with interlaced rings or overlapping plates of steel. (See
mail.) So
† coat of fence (
obs.).
[See
c 1300,
c 1475 in sense 1.]
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iv. 117 They wered alwayes theyr cote of mayle all rousty vpon theyr doubelettes. 1563 Foxe A. & M. 859 b, A dronken Flemminge..put on a coate of fence. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. ii. iv. (1622) 37 The Germans had neither coat of fence nor helmet. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. xvii. 5 He was armed with a coate of male. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. ix. 211 Dominic..had next to his skin an iron coat of mail. 1813 Scott Trierm. ii. xxiv, Gay shields were cleft..And steel coats riven. |
† 6. Garb as indicating profession (
e.g. clerical); hence, profession, class, order, sort, party; chiefly in such phrases as
a man of his coat,
one of their own coat, etc. Very common in 17th c. (
Cf. cloth 14, 15.)
Obs.| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 162 This [Moses] had a brother, the first of all his cote. 1600 Holland Livy vi. xxx. 238 The Tribunes Militarie..were so..reverenced among those of their owne coat and faction [inter suos]. 1647 May Hist. Parl. i. iii. 28 The Archbishop of Canterbury..a man..of a disposition too fierce and cruel for his Coat. 1651 Reliq. Wotton. 102 A doctor of Physic being returned one of the burgesses, Which was not ordinary in any of his coat. 1686 Catholic Representer ii. 60 Reports..carried about..by Men of all Coats. a 1711 Ken Lett. Wks. (1838) 19. 1774 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 483, I know no man of his coat who would fall in so well with you. |
II. A covering compared to a garment.
7. transf. A natural covering or integument.
a. An animal's covering of hair, fur, wool, feathers, etc.; rarely the skin or hide.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 143 When he [Nebuchadnezzar] beheld his cote of heres. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 86 Accorde to gidere..as doggis doon..whanne ech of hem terith otheris coot. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 118 Reward not thy sheepe (when ye take off his cote) with twitches and patches. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 37 Such groanes That their discharge did stretch his [a stag's] leatherne coat Almost to bursting. a 1613 Overbury Characters (N.), His life is like a hawkes, the best part mewed; and if he live till three coates is a master. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 406 Fish..sporting with quick glance Show to the Sun thir wav'd coats dropt with Gold. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 342 A Hawk of the first coat, accipiter bimus; of the second coat, trimus. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 44 The mules..have their coats closely shorn. |
b. Phys. A membrane or other structure investing or lining an organ of an animal body (as the
arachnoid coat of the brain, the
choroid coat of the eye), or forming one of the layers of which the walls of a hollow organ or vessel consist (as the coats of the stomach, of the arteries).
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurgie 26 Þe toþer arterie..haþ two cootis, bi cause þat oon myȝt not aȝenstonde þe strenkþe of þe spiritis. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 290 The coats of the stomack. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 84 The three coats of an artery are wounded. 1831 Brewster Optics xxxv. 286 The eyeball..consists of four coats or membranes. |
c. A structure forming the integument of some part of a plant, or anything similar; as the skin, rind, husk, etc., of a fruit or seed;
† the rind of cheese (
obs.); the layers of a bulb, as an onion; the similar layers of a precious stone, as an agate; the annual layers of wood in exogenous trees, etc.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 44 Eche coate of his..set in the Gardaine or otherwhere will soone come vp. 1597 Thynne in Animadv. (1865) Introd. 100 The swete chestnute is covered with a..rooffe coote. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. i. §8 The Coats of the Bean being stripp'd off, the proper seed shews it self. 1740 Cheyne Regimen 195 The concave Surfaces that make a Globe (as the Coats of an Onion). 1796 H. Glasse Cookery ii. 15 Cheese is to be chosen by its moist and smooth coat. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 570 On that side the annual coats of wood are thinner. 1875 Dawson Dawn of Life v. 95 Bands of differently coloured materials deposited in succession, like the coats of an onyx agate. |
8. Naut. A piece of tarred canvas or tarpaulin nailed round the mast, bowsprit, or pumps, where they enter the deck, or round the hole in which the rudder traverses, to keep the water out.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 12 Coates..for all masts and yeards. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 4 The helm coat was washed away. 1729 Capt. W. Wriglesworth MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell’ 22 Sept., Took in new Coats for the Helm and Pumps. 1800 Naval Chron. III. 299 He found..the main-mast's coat..in flames. |
9. A layer of any substance, such as paint, tar, plaster, etc., covering a surface;
spec. so much as is laid on at one time; a coating.
| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 80 With Coate of Lime and haire..and a Coate of fine playster. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. iii. 193 Over all is a coat of rich mould. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) M ii b, Give her a good coat of tar. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 477 The tongue is usually dry; a coat or covering forms upon it. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (ed. 6) I. iii. 92 The coat of varnish which surrounded every particle. Mod. All external woodwork to receive three coats of paint. |
10. fig. Anything that covers, invests, or conceals.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad iii. 60 Cowardice..for which thou well deserv'st A coat of tombstone [i.e. a stoning]. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 20 Heaven's Star-embroidered Coat. 1771 Johnson Falkland's Isl. Wks. X. 67 He walks..in a coat of darkness. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §20. 138 The mountain..with its crest of crag and coat of snows. |
III. Elliptical uses, phrases, etc.
† 11. Short for
coat-card.
Obs.| 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde To Rdr., Euerie coate and sute are sorted in their degree. 1599 Massinger, etc. Old Law iii. i, Here's a trick of discarded cards of us! We were ranked with coats as long as old master lived. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn i. i, When she is pleas'd to trick or tromp mankind, Some may be coats, as in the cards; but, then, Some must be knaves. |
† 12. Short for
coat-money.
Obs.| [1512 in Rymer Fœdera (1710) XIII. 327 He shall also Receyve for the Coote of every Capitaine and Souldeor foure Shillings.] 1626 Ld. Conway Vind. Dk. Buckhm. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 232 Warrants..for the levying of Men, and for Coats and Conduct-Money. c 1630 Scotch Acts Chas. I (1814) V. 245 (Jam.) Subsideis, fyftenes, tents, coats, taxatiouns or tallages. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 73 He who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. i. xxi. 178 For coat and conduct, 6446. 12. 2. |
13. Proverbs and Phrases.
† to baste (pay, etc.) his coat: to beat him.
† to be in any one's coat: to be in his place, ‘stand in his shoes’.
to cut the coat according to the cloth: see
cloth n.,
cut v.
to trail one's coat: see
trail v.
1 1.
† to turn one's coat: to change or abandon one's principles, desert one's party, apostatize (
cf. turncoat).
to wear the king's coat: to serve as a soldier. And others: see
quots.| 1530 Palsgr. 498/2, I coyle ones kote, I beate hym. 1539 Taverner Erasm. Prov. 15 The Englyshe prouerbe sayethe thus: nere is my cote, but nerer is my shyrt. 1549 in P. F. Tytler Eng. under Edw. VI (1839) I. 171, I would not be in some of their coats for five marks. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Man's Est. vi. (1580) 31 It is but vaine to saie this, If I had been in Adam's coate. 1576 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 107/2 We shall see these backesliders, which knowe the Gospell, reuolt & turne their cotes. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iv. i. 33, I would not be in some of your coats for two pence. 1636 Henshaw Horæ Sub. 72 His charity begins at home, and there it ends: neare is his coat, but neerer is his skin. 1665 Pepys Diary 10 Apr., He desired me that I would baste his coate. 1667 Ibid. 22 July, I wish he had paid this fellow's coat well. 1883 Stevenson Treasure Isl. iv. xxi. (1886) 166, I thought you had worn the king's coat! |
14. attrib. and
Comb. a. attributive, as
coat-collar,
coat-cuff,
coat-flap,
coat-pocket,
coat-pouch,
coat-rack,
coat-room (
U.S.),
coat-skirt,
coat-sleeve;
b. objective, as
coat-seller,
coat-turning (see 13).
c. Special combinations:
coat and skirt, a two-piece costume; also
attrib. (with hyphens);
coat-arms n. pl. = coat-armour, arms (see
arm n.2 14);
† coat-deblazoning ppl. a., ? blazoning arms;
coat-dress, a tailored dress resembling a coat;
coat-facing, material of a kind different from the cloth of the coat and used as a facing;
† coat-feathers, ‘the small or body feathers’ (Nares);
coat-frock = coat-dress;
coat-hanger, a piece of wood, metal, or plastic on which a coat or dress may be hung, curved so as to fit the shoulders of the garment and having a hook by which it may be suspended in a wardrobe or elsewhere; also
transf.;
coat-link, a pair of buttons joined by a short link, or a button with a loop, for holding together the lappets of a coat;
† coat-plight, a ‘plight’ or fold of a coat;
coat-tack (
Naut.), a tack or nail for fastening the coats (see 8). See also
coat-armour, etc.
| 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 1234 Costumes... Plain Serge *Coat and Skirt. 1906 Daily Chron. 24 Sept. 8/1 Those useful coat-and-skirt costumes. 1908 ‘Ian Hay’ Right Stuff ii. xi. 212 I'm afraid she found my clothes rather overpowering, though I'd only a coat and skirt on. 1930 Times 11 Sept. 13/6 A coat and skirt in brown velveteen. |
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. v. (1632) 212 The *coat-armes of the parties empaled. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. v. x. 248 The proper cognizances and coatarmes of the Tribes. 1829 K. Digby Broadst. Hon. I. 89 Supposing that tournaments..and coat-arms, and aristocratic institutions are essential to chivalry. |
| 1833 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. II. 195/3 The back rim [of his hat] is turned up by coming in contact with his *coat collar. 1860 Holland Miss Gilbert's Career viii. 132 A young man that..keeps the dander all off his coat-collar. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny ii. 38 Mr. Robert..turned his coat collar up about his neck and ears. |
| 1846 J. J. Hooper Adv. Simon Suggs (1851) iv. 42 Note..the snowy spotlessness of the linen exposed by the turn up of his *coat-cuff. |
| 1640 Yorke's Union Hon. Commend. Verses, Those *Coat-deblaz'ning Windowes. |
| 1915 in C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothing (1952) iv. 130 The *coat-dress has an assured future. |
| 1900 Westm. Gaz. 9 Sept. 3/2 Velvet is conspicuous as a *coat facing in some of the newest models. |
| 1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius' Nomenclator (N.), Pennæ vestitrices..καλυπτῆρες. The lesser feathers which covered the birds: their *cote fethers. |
| 1833 H. Martineau Tale of Tyne ii. 31 A torn *coat-flap. |
| 1917 in C. W. Cunnington Eng. Women's Clothing (1952) iv. 138 Every woman is wearing a *coat-frock. 1923 Harmsworth Househ. Encycl. II. 956/3 Coat frock. This is a one-piece dress, usually made of some thick material suitable for wearing out of doors. 1936 N. Coward Fumed Oak in Tonight at 8:30 38 She wears a nondescript coat-frock. 1959 Sunday Express 27 Sept. 14/5 A tailored dress? You mean more of a coat-frock, don't you? |
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 439/1 *Coat Hangers. 1908 Daily Chron. 26 Feb. 8/5 Most women have six or seven coat-hangers in their closets. 1962 Engineering 2 Mar. 297 Much use has been made throughout both buildings of the precast vault with its integral ‘coat hanger’ beam. |
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. v. (1593) 107 Persey so warely did it shun, As that it in his *cote⁓plights hung. |
| 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 47 [He] slipt it into his *coat-pocket. |
| 1825 Blackw. Mag. XVII. 384 What's that in your *coat-pouch? |
| 1919 H. Walpole Secret City iii. xv. 435 No young man likes to be discovered hidden behind a *coat-rack, however honest his original intentions! 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) v. 84 He glanced quickly at the coat-rack. |
| 1870 De B. R. Keim Sheridan's Troopers i. 10 [He] made his appearance through the window looking into the *coat-room. 1935 A. Squire Sing Sing Doctor xiv. 209 They pass first through a small vestibule flanked by a coat room. |
| 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4092/4 Hugh Gronouse and John James, of London, *Coatsellers. |
| 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xvii. 174 He felt something pulling at his *coat-skirt. |
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxvii, Mr. Codlin rubbed the bridge of his nose with his *coat-sleeve. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Coat⁓tacks, the peculiar nails with which the mast coats are fastened. |
| 1888 Sat. Rev. 3 Nov. 529/2 Anything in the way of recantation, *coat-turning, word-eating. |
▪ II. coat, v. (
kəʊt)
[f. coat n. q.v. for forms.] 1. trans. To provide with a coat; to clothe in a coat; to dress, clothe.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 138 Heo Copeþ þe Comissarie and Coteþ þe Clerkes. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxiii. (1617) 377 That their Images should be well painted, and wel coated. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. liii. (1612) 238 Scarse will their Studies stipend them, their wiues, and Children cote. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 192 Nurses..erre while they too soon Coat feebler Infants. 1798 Southey Lyric P., Compl. Poor, We were wrapt and coated well. |
| fig. 1599 H. Holland Wks. R. Greenham Ep. Ded., One of which [books] coated and attired (in the best manner that I can)..here I doe..humbly present. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. i. ii. (1865) 15, I longed to new coat him in russia. |
2. To cover with a surface layer or coating (or with successive layers) of any substance, as paint, tar, tinfoil, etc.; also predicated of the substance covering the surface.
| 1753 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 299 Leaf tin..is best to coat them [electrical jars] with. 1776 G. Semple Building in Water 83 The Dutch preserve their..Sluices, etc. by coating them over with a mixture of Pitch and Tar. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. 124 The granite was now coated with lichens. 1860 Tennent Story Guns (1864) 227 The idea of coating ships with armour. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 65 Layers of ice..coating a white snowy central mass. |
† 3. To place in one's coat of arms; to assume as a heraldic bearing.
Obs.| 1663 Gerbier Counsel E viij b, Constantine the great did Coat a double-headed-Aigle. |
▪ III. coat obs. form of
cote,
quote.