waistcoat

American  

[wes-kuht, weyst-koht] / ˈwɛs kət, ˈweɪstˌkoʊt /

noun

1. Chiefly British. vest.

2. an 18th-century garment for women that is similar to a man's vest, usually worn with a riding habit.

3. a man's body garment, often quilted and embroidered and having sleeves, worn under the doublet in the 16th and 17th centuries.

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waistcoat British  

/ ˈweɪsˌkəʊt /

noun

1. US, Canadian, and Austral name: vest.  a sleeveless waist-length garment with buttons at the front, often worn under a suit jacket

2. a man's garment worn under a doublet in the 16th century

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• waistcoated
  adjective
• underwaistcoat
  noun

Etymology

Origin of waistcoat

First recorded in 1510–20; waist + coat

Explanation

A waistcoat is a piece of clothing most often worn as part of a man's suit — it's the sleeveless garment you wear over a button-up shirt and under a suit jacket. A waistcoat is essentially the same thing as a formal vest. While you might throw on a warm vest to take your dog for a walk, you're more likely to wear a waistcoat if you're an usher in your cousin's wedding. The word dates from the 15th century, when a waistcoat was long-sleeved and worn under a man's doublet, a close-fitting jacket. As the name implies, unlike longer formal coats, waistcoats were cropped at the waist.

Example Sentences

All over England, on Waistcoat Wednesday, the masses celebrated.

From Washington Post • Jul. 11, 2018

Another tiny shop, the African Waistcoat Company, offered classically tailored vests with a twist: they were made from Nigerian cloth in colorful Yoruba patterns.

From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2011

And so he plodded on all through the night, resolutely plunging deeper and deeper into the forest, and leaving the Tower of the Norths Waistcoat Wind league after league farther behind.

From Boycotted And Other Stories by Reed, Talbot Baines

A fat Fellow was puffing on in his open Waistcoat; a Boy of fourteen in a Livery, carrying after him his Cloak, upper Coat, Hat, Wig, and Sword.

From The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Addison, Joseph

"Jenkins," said Lord Ragnall presently to Red Waistcoat, "how many have you to the credit of Sir Junius Fortescue?"

From The Ivory Child by Haggard, Henry Rider