jacket

[ jak-it ]
See synonyms for jacket on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a short coat, in any of various forms, usually opening down the front.

  2. something designed to be placed around the upper part of the body for a specific purpose other than use as clothing: a life jacket.

  1. a protective outer covering.

  2. the skin of a potato, especially when it has been cooked.

  3. the cover of a paperbound book, usually bearing an illustration.

  4. a paper or cardboard envelope for protecting a phonograph record.

  5. a metal casing, as the steel covering of a cannon, the steel cover around the core of a bullet, or the water jacket on certain types of machine guns.

  6. a folded paper or open envelope containing an official document.

verb (used with object)
  1. to put a jacket on (someone or something).

Origin of jacket

1
1425–75; late Middle English jaket<Middle French ja(c)quet, equivalent to jaquejack4 + -et-et

Other words from jacket

  • jack·et·ed, adjective
  • jack·et·less, adjective
  • jack·et·like, adjective
  • un·der·jack·et, noun
  • un·jack·et·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use jacket in a sentence

  • Though in point of fact social pressure and custom were more strait-jacketing than most people today realize.

    The Sensitive Man | Poul William Anderson
  • On occasion, when I had endured an extra severe jacketing, he almost pleaded with me to confess.

  • But I had grown too used to the jacket during my incorrigible days to let a single jacketing injure me.

  • One-tenth the jacketing I have received in San Quentin would have squeezed your rabbit heart out of your long ears.

  • Very few men born of women have been fortunate enough to suffer years of solitary and strait-jacketing.

British Dictionary definitions for jacket

jacket

/ (ˈdʒækɪt) /


noun
  1. a short coat, esp one that is hip-length and has a front opening and sleeves

  2. something that resembles this or is designed to be worn around the upper part of the body: a life jacket

  1. any exterior covering or casing, such as the insulating cover of a boiler

  2. the part of the cylinder block of an internal-combustion engine that encloses the coolant

    • the skin of a baked potato

    • (as modifier): jacket potatoes

  3. a metal casing used in certain types of ammunition

  4. US a cover to protect a gramophone record: Brit name: sleeve

  5. mainly US a folder or envelope to hold documents

verb
  1. (tr) to put a jacket on (someone or something)

Origin of jacket

1
C15: from Old French jaquet short jacket, from jacque peasant, from proper name Jacques James

Derived forms of jacket

  • jacketed, adjective
  • jacket-like, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012