▪ I. ˈcoat-trailing, vbl. n.
[f. coat n.; cf. trail v.1 1.]
Provocation; deliberately provocative conduct. So coat-trailer, one who acts thus.
| 1927 Observer 19 June 15/7 There is no touch of coat-trailing..about the claim of St. Peter's, York, to be ‘the fourth oldest of our public schools’. 1942 V. S. Pritchett in Penguin New Writing XV. 21 The others sorted themselves out into types: the good fellow, the wind-bag, the coat-trailer. 1963 Ann. Reg. 1962 452 There were moments of farce, exhibitionism, self-advertisement, coat-trailing, and invective. |
▪ II. ˈcoat-trailing, ppl. a.
[see prec.]
Provoking.
| 1959 Listener 5 Mar. 428/3 One of those coat-trailing,..off-the-cuff interviews this programme specializes in. 1962 Times 17 Jan. 13/7 Mr. Muggeridge's commentary, as well as being less deliberately coat-trailing than sometimes hitherto. |