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:
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
We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
Hook’s coat turned from splotchy and brown to poofy and golden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Specializing in a stodgy subject like religion, the military or law enforcement—especially if one has anything positive to say—is as unfashionable as flaunting a fur coat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Finally I spot the corner of the parcel sticking out from underneath my coat.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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
That left her free to nest in a pile of family coats under a row of seats.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
Erwin gives the whole project a kind of gritty, visceral approach — very “Game of Thrones” in red coats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
Patch and I lay in a tangle of old coats with bits of straw covering us.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Northern sled dogs became compact and heavily coated for cold conditions, while hunting dogs near the equator tended to be leaner and better suited to heat.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 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
Pour the mixture over the oyster crackers and toss until evenly coated.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
Now, he was coated top to bottom with ash and soot; his hair, his face—even his eyelashes were coated in a fine gray powder.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
She explained that the mural had an anti-graffiti coating, “it just didn’t work as well as I hoped.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
While paper or cardboard packaging might on its own be recyclable, the presence of a label, a seal or a coating can negate that.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Over time, the newly formed material settled onto silicon chips placed inside the tubes, leaving behind a thin coating of dust.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
Party wings are another reliable crowd-pleaser: Farmer Focus wings come pre-split, grill quickly and only need a coating of Tabañero BBQ sauce near the end so it can caramelize and get sticky.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
“I am merely being frank. I don’t believe in sugar- coating things for the young. That is how I was raised, and I turned out perfectly well.”
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
