overcoat
(ˈəʊvəkəʊt)
[over- 8 c.]
A large coat worn over the ordinary clothing, esp. in cold weather; a great-coat, top-coat. Also attrib.
| 1802 Monthly Mag. XIV. 325/1 [He] presented to the king of Spain a very light and thin over-coat, which rain could not penetrate. 1807 Salmagundi 31 Dec. 395 Observing it to be dressed in a man's hat, a cloth over⁓coat, and spatterdashes, I framed my apology accordingly. 1848 Craig, Overcoat, a greatcoat or topcoat. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxv, Saddles, bridles, several sorts of harness, riding-whips, overcoats, and various articles of clothing. 1857 P. Cartwright Autobiogr. 201 My pistol..was in my overcoat pocket. 1887 Lowell Democr. 16 The only argument available with an east wind is to put on an overcoat. 1958 M. Kelly Christmas Egg i. 9 He put his hands in his overcoat pockets. 1976 Publishers' Weekly 19 Apr. 80/1 The neighborhood gossips about a most unlikely overcoat flasher. |
b. transf. and fig. spec. (slang) with ref. to means of disposing of a body; wooden overcoat, a coffin.
| 1860 Mayne Reid Odd People 136 Not contented with being tatooed, these also paint their bodies, by way of ‘overcoat’. c 1864 E. Dickinson Poems (1955) II. 705 The Spirit turns away Just laying off for evidence An Overcoat of Clay. 1894 Daily News 17 Jan. 3/1 The Russian bears have magnificent overcoats. 1903 Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 362/2 Wooden-overcoat (or -surtout),..a coffin. 1909 Dialect Notes III. 389 Wooden-overcoat, coffin. 1940 H. W. Thompson Body, Boots & Britches xix. 486 Your wooden overcoat won't have any pockets. 1942 [see measure v. 2 c]. 1969 Times 15 Nov. p. vi/7 Felco secateurs are exceedingly popular... Their model..has one handle with a plastic ‘overcoat’ which rotates as you squeeze the handles together. 1971 Guardian 12 Aug. 11/2 The paratroops were edgy and the one who let me through the barricade reckoned I would come out in a wooden overcoat. 1972 K. Bonfiglioli Don't Point that Thing at Me xvii. 147 He..had to get us to ground of his own choosing before he could fit us for cement overcoats. 1974 Times 14 Dec. 1/7 The Foreign Office..asked Miami police searching for Mr John Stonehouse, the missing British MP..for a special report of..a Mafia style ‘concrete overcoat’ known to have contained a body. |
Hence ˈovercoated a., wearing an overcoat; ˈovercoating, material for overcoats.
| 1886 Tinsley's Mag. July 49 It was the 29th May..and still..discreet men were over-coated. c 1900 in American Mail Order Fashions (1961) 25 The fabric is a regular overcoating Vicuna... A firm but soft finished overcoating in one of the new shades. 1948 Hansard Commons 16 Mar. Written Answers 224 We have stipulated that half of the Italian supplies should be in men's suitings and overcoatings. 1967 Times Rev. Industry Apr. 53/3 J. and J. Crombie is to make 96,000 yards of overcoating, worth more than {pstlg}250,000, for the Soviet Union. |