coat
Americannoun
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coats
plural
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an outer garment with sleeves, covering at least the upper part of the body.
a new fur coat; a coat for formal wear.
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a natural integument or covering, as the hair, fur, or wool of an animal, the bark of a tree, or the skin of a fruit.
-
a layer of anything that covers a surface.
That wall needs another coat of paint.
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a mucous layer covering or lining an organ or connected parts, as on the tongue.
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Archaic. a petticoat or skirt.
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Obsolete.
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a garment indicating profession, class, etc.
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the profession, class, etc., so indicated.
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verb (used with object)
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coats,
present (3rd person singular)
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coated,
past participle, past
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coating
present participle
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to cover with a layer or coating: The furniture was coated with dust.
He coated the wall with paint.
The furniture was coated with dust.
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to cover thickly, especially with a viscous fluid or substance.
Heat the mixture until it coats a spoon. The boy was coated with mud from head to foot.
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to cover or provide with a coat.
noun
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an outdoor garment with sleeves, covering the body from the shoulder to waist, knee, or foot
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any similar garment, esp one forming the top to a suit
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a layer that covers or conceals a surface
a coat of dust
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the hair, wool, or fur of an animal
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short for coat of arms
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in disfavour
verb
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to cover (with) a layer or covering
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(tr) to provide with a coat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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coatsimple
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coatssimple
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have coatedperfect
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has coatedperfect
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am coatingprogressive
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are coatingprogressive
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is coatingprogressive
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have been coatingperfect progressive
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has been coatingperfect progressive
Past
-
coatedsimple
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had coatedperfect
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was coatingprogressive
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were coatingprogressive
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had been coatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coat
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English cote, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Germanic; compare German Kotze, Old Saxon cott “woolen coat”
Explanation
A coat is a warm piece of clothing you wear when it's cold outside. When the days get short and chilly, it's probably time to start wearing your puffy winter coat. A coat is a necessary garment during the winter in most parts of the world. You can also use the word to mean "layer," like when you paint your house, starting with a coat of primer. Another kind of coat is the one your dog, or any furry animal, has: "I brushed my cat's coat until it shone." Coat comes from the Old French cote, "tunic or overgarment," with its Turkish root kotta, "coarse cloth."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Because they cannot imagine an autumn in which they don't pause to admire the ginkgo at its finest, swathed in a feathery coat of gold.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Rita remembered that the shorter man had stuffed them inside his coat while he was yelling for the money.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
I experienced the Aritzia touch myself in January when I went gift-shopping for my wife—a winter birthday put that viral Super Puff coat in the consideration set—and a style adviser approached me almost immediately.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
The scene where Harris approached a captured bug, rocking an ankle-length black trench coat with his blonde hair in a close crew cut, was the closest “Troopers” came to clubbing the audience in the ribs.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
His coat shines; his mane is an even more brilliant black.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
“My closet is full of winter coats, you know what I mean?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Gaggles of British tourists with fur coats and spray tans jostled for seating, clutching their outerwear to their chests for space as they scouted for a table to open up.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
On the Northwest Coast of North America, for instance, some Indigenous communities bred small dogs with woolly coats specifically for their hair.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
"It's been excellent having the coats," said Dawn Prosser, manager of the Swindon night shelter.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Ophie’s momentary relief melted away, and she went to fetch their coats with a heavy heart.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
No one has ever written an alternate history that didn’t reek of staginess, but Mr. Boyne’s cast comes coated with greasepaint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
She managed to grab hold of her daughter's foot, but her shoes were coated in engine oil from the overturned vessel and she slipped through her hands.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
"This tastes really sweet. It's almost like it's been coated in sugar," said Douyin influencer Liulianzi in a clip liked more than 17,000 times.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Shag carpet covered original terra-cotta floors, high-gloss paint coated nearly every wooden surface and overgrown weeds crowded the yard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Inside, the smell of mustiness coated everything like a thick layer of bad cologne.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
Overhead, through the suspended lighting grid, you can see the raw concrete and steel construction, with its thick coating of spray-on fireproofing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
"That's where we then come in, to give them the protective coating to effectively enable these new materials."
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
With every step farther into “the pile,” what rescue workers came to call the smoldering mass of debris, a coating of white powder got thicker and deeper—like snow that wasn’t snow, my father recalls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
This coating can act as a form of camouflage, making it harder for immune cells to recognize and destroy them.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
I use a paintbrush to finish coating the man's skin with the paste, like sticky marmalade on toast.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
