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
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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:
The prosecutor sometimes courted publicity and controversy, showing up outside James’s Brooklyn home in a trench coat resembling that of TV police lieutenant Columbo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Luxury brands such as these have certainly seen an increase in searches and sales, and a Prada coat worn by Bessette sold for $192,000 at auction while “Love Story” was airing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Lightly coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and set it over medium heat.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Now, a sleeveless velvet coat she owned will be sold at The Cotswold Auction Company in Cheltenham to raise money for the Dogs in Distress charity.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Sandy June’s looked like it’d been here for decades and needed a fresh coat of trim.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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
Swaths of stubborn flies bother his mechanics as they work, and he’s had to redo paint jobs and clear coats tainted by the thick dust from the warehouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 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
A selection of ceramic test tiles show how they develop organic “accretions” on the surfaces of the vessels on view here, by building up clay slip through countless coats of uneven applications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Their long brown coats were gray with charcoal dust.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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
Hence the cold seal solution, in which enough pressure is applied for the barrier coated paper to be bonded against itself.
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
Pour the mixture over the oyster crackers and toss until evenly coated.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 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
Researchers in France and Croatia analyzed the protective coating on the Roman Republic shipwreck Ilovik-Paržine 1, which sank about 2,200 years ago off the coast of what is now Croatia.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
The coating raised DNA cleavage efficiency from 36% without PEG to 92% with PEG at 37°C over 31 hours.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
Though he says you must keep them in a safe place to ensure the coating on the lenses isn't torn, worn or damaged, as that would make them unsafe to use again.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Newer cars and trucks employ opposite frequency technology, which lowers road noise, silicone-based coating on door seals that cuts virtually all high-frequency whistling, and noise-dampening designs on windows, to name a few technologies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
A wave of ice particles swept over him, coating him like a glazed donut and freezing him in place.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
