# jacket

Pronunciation: say "JAK-it" /ˈd͡ʒæk.ɪt/

## Noun

1. An outer garment for the upper body, worn over a shirt or blouse, usually reaching from the waist to the thigh.
   - Simple: A short coat worn over a shirt to keep you warm or dry.
   - _He pulled on a light jacket as the evening cooled._
   - _The tailored jacket fit perfectly across her shoulders._
2. The upper part of a suit, worn over a shirt alongside the pants and sometimes a vest.
   - Simple: The coat part of a suit, worn over a shirt with matching pants.
   - _The jacket of his navy suit was cut slightly too narrow at the shoulders._
   - _A well-pressed jacket pulls a formal outfit together._
3. A protective or insulating covering placed around an object, such as a book, a hot water tank, or a bullet.
   - Simple: A cover that protects or insulates something, like a book or a water tank.
   - _A protective jacket around the pipe prevents heat loss in winter._
   - _Engineers fitted a steel jacket over the reactor vessel for insulation._
4. The tough skin left on a potato when it is baked whole.
   - Simple: The thick outer skin of a potato that has been baked whole.
   - _The jacket turns crisp and golden when the potato is baked at high heat._
   - _Many people leave the jacket on for extra fiber and flavor._
7. A reinforcing band that surrounds and strengthens the tube of a gun in which the charge is fired.
   - Simple: A strong metal band that wraps around a gun barrel to make it stronger.
   - _The gun's jacket was forged from a single piece of steel._
   - _Engineers reinforced the barrel with a shrunk-on jacket to withstand higher pressures._
8. A person's criminal record as kept on file by the police. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The record police keep of someone's arrests and convictions.
   - _His jacket showed three arrests but no convictions._
   - _With his jacket, one more arrest means real prison time._
9. A sleeveless garment worn over a shirt, often beneath a suit coat; the garment most Americans call a vest and the British call a waistcoat. *(dialectal, Appalachia)*
   - Simple: A short top with no sleeves, worn over a shirt and often under a coat.
   - _He tucked his pocket watch into his jacket and slid his suit coat on over it before church._
   - _Grandpa buttoned his wool jacket over his flannel shirt, and with no sleeves to bind him he swung the ax all morning._
10. An illegitimate child, especially one whose supposed father is unaware that he is not the biological father. *(Jamaica)*
   - Simple: A child whose real father is not the man who believes he is the father.
   - _The whole parish suspected the youngest was a jacket fathered by another man._
   - _He went to his grave never knowing the child was a jacket._

## Verb

5. To enclose or encase an object in a jacket or other protective covering.
   - Simple: To wrap or cover something with a protective layer.
   - _Technicians jacket the hot water tank to reduce heat loss._
   - _The factory jackets every wire in colored plastic before shipping._
6. To restrain a person by confining them in a straitjacket.
   - Simple: To put someone into a straitjacket so they cannot move.
   - _Orderlies moved to jacket the struggling patient before he hurt himself._
   - _In the old asylum they would jacket anyone deemed uncontrollable._

## Origin

From Middle French jacquet, a diminutive of the Old French jaque.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/jacket (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).