coating

Pluralcoatings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A thin layer covering the outer surface of an object.

   The pill's smooth coating makes it easier to swallow.

   Engineers applied a protective coating to the steel beams.

   Similarlayer, film, covering, skin, glaze

   Note

   The material usually arrives in an of-phrase: a protective coating of sealer, stain, varnish or wax on a cork wall, or the all-over coating of reddish-brown that Railway Magazine reported in 1943 replacing chocolate and cream on Great Western rolling stock. Protective is a natural partner, because a coating is so often put on to shield what lies beneath it from weather or cleaning.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of coat.

   The factory is coating each lens with an anti-glare film.

   Coating the cake in chocolate took longer than baking it.

   Note

   The -ing form of a transitive verb, so it nearly always takes an object and then names the material. You coat the truffles with cocoa powder, or the cake in chocolate, and either preposition works. The same spelling is also the noun for an outer layer. Coating the beams is the action, while a coating on the beams is its result.

3. 3
   nounarchaic

   Cloth intended for making coats.

   The draper unrolled several bolts of fine coating across the counter.

   He paid a good price for the heavy coating that would keep out the cold.

   Note

   Here the cloth is named for what it will become, not for what it is woven from. It is an archaic usage and behaves as a material noun: a draper sells bolts of coating or a length of heavy coating, not a coating. Today it suits historical fiction or period description, where a tailor or draper in the scene makes the meaning clear.

4. 4
   nounslangcountable

   A reprimand or telling-off.

   Instead of arresting the boys, the officer gave them a coating and sent them home.

   Collins took a coating from the inspector over the missing evidence log.

   Similartelling-off, dressing-down, roasting, rocket, reprimand

   Note

   Police slang from the station and the beat. The Police Journal of 1931 has the line "The bogey gave him a right coating." A coating is something given and taken, and an intensifier such as right sits naturally in front of it. Keep it to informal speech. Outside police talk it can be heard as the thin outer layer, so let the context make the scolding plain.

Showing meanings only. Show all 4