turncoat, n. and a.
(ˈtɜːnkəʊt)
[f. turn v. + coat n. lit. one who turns his coat; cf. turn v. 51.]
A. n. a. One who changes his principles or party; a renegade; an apostate.
| 1557 Woodman in Foxe A. & M. (1570) 2193/2, I will beleue none of you all, for you be turne coates, and chaungelinges, and be wauering minded. 1579 Fulke Confut. Sanders 688 It sheweth what turne coates they were, which changed as euerie prince was affected. a 1632 G. Herbert Outlandish Prov. §929 Wine is a turne-coate (first a friend, then an enemy). 1777 F. Burney Early Diary, I am afraid Mrs. Wall is a turn-coat. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 567 The Tory who voted for those motions would run a great risk of being pointed at as a turncoat by the..Cavaliers. |
† b. transf. applied to anything that changes in appearance or colour. Also
turn-coat-coloured.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 11 This is a maruellous turncote, for that it doth conforme it self to all settes and dispositions of the Ayre. Ibid. 12 b, Kaman the stone may well be called a turncote, for that it is now blacke, now white, now shame⁓fast & blushing. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 672 Of a changeable colour, betwixt white, green, brown and yellow, for which occasion some have called it versicolor Chamæleon, that is, a turn-coat-coloured Chamæleon. |
c. A coat renovated by being turned; in
quot. 1726
fig. Also, a reversible coat.
| 1726 Gay in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 65 Next week I shall have a new coat, and new buttons, for the birth-day, though..a turn-coat might have been more for my advantage. 1958 Vogue Oct. 163 Givenchy's barrelled and narrowing turn-coat, in pearl grey wool reversing to off-white. |
B. adj. Of, pertaining to, or that is a turncoat.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. lviii. 5 Hee peynteth out more expressely theire turnecote craftynesse. 1624 Middleton Game at Chess ii. ii, Yond greasy turncoat gormandising prelate. 1706 Hearne Collect. 3 Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 302 An old, rich,..turn-coat D{supr}. 1796 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Satire Wks. 1812 III. 400 Turncoat Windham to no party true. 1876 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 40 We have heard that the Commedia was..the revengeful satire of a disappointed Ghibelline, nay, worse, of a turncoat Guelph. |
Hence (
nonce-wds.)
ˈturncoat v., intr. to play the turncoat, to change sides;
ˈturncoated a., having the coat turned;
ˈturncoatery,
ˈturncoating vbl. n.,
ˈturncoatism, the action or practice of a turncoat.
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 4 July 3/1 Whichever way I've voted, One or the other's sure to swear that I've *turn-coated. |
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. xxi. 33 Translations are but as *turn-coated things at best, specially among languages that have advantages one of the other. |
| 1841 Hampden in Some Mem. (1871) 132 Apologising for his *turn-coaterie, saying, that those who now brought in the new Government would as soon turn them out if they came forward with the proposal of a fixed duty. |
| 1624 Bp. R. Montagu Immed. Addr. A j b, To take notice of his dealing,..in his *turne-coating from side to side. 1965 National Observer (U.S.) 11 Jan. 2 He told Mr. Watson he didn't ‘think much of turncoating’ when Mr. Watson announced for the House in 1962. |
| 1889 W. Roberts in N. & Q. 7th Ser. VII. 41/1 The most barefaced and flagrant *turncoatism. |