coat

Alternative forms

• cote (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English cote, coate, cotte, from Old French cote, cotte (“outer garment with sleeves”), from Latin cotta (“undercoat, tunic”), from Proto-Germanic *kuttô, *kuttǭ (“cowl, woolen cloth, coat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷewd-, *gud- (“woolen clothes”).

Cognate with Old High German kozza, kozzo (“woolen coat”) (German Kotze (“coarse woolen blanket; woolen cape”)), Middle Low German kot (“coat”), Middle Dutch cote (“coat”), Ancient Greek βεῦδος (beûdos, “woman's attire”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /koʊt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəʊt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -əʊt

Noun

coat (countable and uncountable, plural coats)

2. (countable, clothing) An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms.^Wp
   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

   • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

3. (countable) A covering of material, such as paint.^Wp

   fresh coat of paint

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Fruit of all kinds, in coat / Rough or smooth rined, or bearded husk, or shell.

5. (countable) The fur or feathers covering an animal's skin.^Wp

   When the dog shed its coat, it left hair all over the furniture and the carpet.

6. (uncountable, nautical) Canvas painted with thick tar and secured round a mast or bowsprit to prevent water running down the sides into the hold (now made of rubber or leather).
7. (obsolete) A petticoat.
   • 1693, [John Locke], “§148”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:

     a child in coats

8. The habit or vesture of an order of men, indicating the order or office; cloth.
   • 1729, Jonathan Swift, The Grand Question Debated of Hamilton's Bawn:

     Men of his coat should be minding their prayers.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, A Lover's Compaint:

     She was sought by spirits of richest coat.

9. A coat of arms.^Wp
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

     Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, / Or tear the lions out of England's coat.

10. A coat card.
    • 1656, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Philip Massinger, The Old Law:

      Here's a trick of discarded cards of us! We were ranked with coats as long as old master lived.

Verb

coat (third-person singular simple present coats, present participle coating, simple past and past participle coated)

1. (transitive) To cover with a coating of some material.

   The frying pan was coated with a layer of non-stick material, making it easier to wash.

   • 2021 January 13, “Fleet News: Final Avanti West Coast Super Voyager refurbished”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 23:

     Door grab handles have been coated with an anti-microbial finish.

2. (transitive) To cover like a coat.
3. (transitive, archaic) To clothe.

Anagrams

• Toca, Cato, CATO, cota, ATOC, taco, TACO, octa-, octa, Cota

Etymology

From Proto-Nahuan *koːwa-. Compare Classical Nahuatl cōātl (“snake”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard) IPA^(key): /ˈku(w)at/
• (Witzapan) IPA^(key): /ˈɡu(w)at/
• (Tacuba) IPA^(key): /ˈkʷat/

Noun

coat (plural cohcoat)

1. snake

   Cuaconi peuhqui ne coat mocuehcueloa

   Then the snake started to curl up

Noun

coat

1. Alternative form of cooat
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Mee coat is ee-runt.

     My coat is torn.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 65