coat

SayKOHT/koʊt//kəʊt/

Pluralcoats

Verbcoats, coating, coated

11 meanings of coat

Practice

1
nouncountable
A warm piece of clothing with sleeves that you wear over your other clothes when you go outside.
She put on her coat before walking to school.
Hang your coats by the door when you come in.
Similarjacket, overcoat
Note
2
nouncountable
A thin layer of a material, like paint, that covers a surface.
The wall needs one more coat of paint.
A thin coat of dust covered the old piano.
Similarlayer, film, covering, lick
Note
3
nouncountable
The fur or feathers that cover an animal's body.
An animal's coat is like a warm jacket that it grows itself.
Our dog's coat gets thick in the winter.
Brush the horse's coat every day to keep it shiny.
Similarfur, pelt, fleece, hair
4
verbtransitive
To cover something with a thin layer of a material, like paint or chocolate.
Like spreading butter over bread so a thin layer covers every part.
Coat the pan with a little oil before you fry the eggs.
The baker coated each donut with powdered sugar.
Similarcover, paint, glaze, spread, plaster
Oppositestrip
5
verbtransitive
To spread over something and cover it, the way snow covers the ground.
Snow coated the cars and the streets last night.
Dust will coat the shelves if you do not clean them.
Similarcover, blanket, dust, carpet, smother
6
nouncountable or uncountable
A special design, often shown on a shield, that stands for a family, a city, or a school.
The knight's shield showed his family's coat: a red lion on a gold field.
Each old college in the city has its own coat painted above its gate.
Similararms, crest, escutcheon
Note
7
noununcountable
A piece of cloth or rubber tied around the bottom of a ship's mast to keep water out.
The sailors tied a new coat around the bottom of the mast before the storm.
Rain ran down the mast, but the coat kept the water out of the ship.
Note
8
nouncountable or uncountable
The special clothes that show what group or job a person belongs to, like a monk's robe.
Everyone could tell from his coat that he was a monk.
Men of his coat were not allowed to carry swords back then.
Similarhabit, garb, dress, cloth
Note
9
nouncountable or uncountable
A playing card with a picture of a king, queen, or jack on it.
I need one more coat to win this card game.
He smiled when he drew a coat: the king of hearts.
Note

Less common meanings

10
verbarchaictransitive
To put clothes on someone, or to give them clothes to wear.
The army had to coat and arm ten thousand new soldiers before the march.
The church promised to coat and feed every poor child in town.
Note
11
nounobsoletecountable or uncountable
A skirt that a woman wears under her dress.
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of coat apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This word came through Old French from Latin cotta, meaning a tunic. It goes back to old Germanic words for woolen cloth.