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.
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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:
“An oversized entry gallery with a coat closet provides plenty of room for a home office or library overlooking the elegant sunken living room,” the listing adds.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
So, why not slather on another coat of bull and hope no one notices?
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
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
Keep your phone somewhere inconvenient or even mildly inaccessible: in your coat pocket, for instance, or your purse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
In a few moments Jop reappeared, making a very pretty brunette in long coat and kerchief, a fur muff hiding his hands.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Why are the people inserting the catheter wearing white coats?
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
He coats the eggs with glue secreted from his legs and attaches clusters of egg sacs to his own body while they develop.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
I covered myself in bits of cardboard, packing tape and foam peanuts and overdid my makeup with several coats of mascara and thick black eyeliner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
At one with Burberry, guests could purchase and customize vintage trench coats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Even though it was now warm enough that Ophie and her mother didn’t need to wear coats when they traveled to and from the house, Mrs. Caruthers still complained about being cold all the time.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
The monument will be installed in a park in Callao, a nearby port city, after being coated with polyurethane foam and fiberglass, and finished with a marble dust.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
One trend centered on the “chamoy pickle”—a hollowed-out jumbo dill pickle typically filled with spicy chips or sour candy, coated with the Mexican condiment chamoy and wrapped in a Fruit Roll-Up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Henkel's cold seal solution is already available for packaging manufacturers to apply to barrier coated paper.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 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
Daisy looked at it, and making a sour face she said, “Yuck! Jay Berry, your tongue is so coated, it looks just like the inside of Papa’s shaving mug.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
The exterior metal cladding of the addition features a luminescent pink paint coating called Pink Kandi.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The anchovy sizzled itself into the oil coating those browned alliums.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
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
She applied another coating of termite mud, turned the boat over, and winced when she saw the damage caused by the spur of rock.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
