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
-
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:
Even in that condition, however, Main managed to grab the man by his white coat and tell him: “You get this straight. I am walking out of here.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● 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
She didn’t bring goggles or even a big coat to survive the cold, dusty nights.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
She was given her nickname because of her bright golden-coloured coat.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
It was a Jew in his early thirties in the typical broad-brimmed black hat and long black coat.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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
"There are lots of gardening appropriate silhouettes on the runways," she says, including aprons, waterproof materials and trench coats.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
At one with Burberry, guests could purchase and customize vintage trench coats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Hospital workers in scrubs and lab coats hurry past me down the hall.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
"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
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
He wiped his hands on his jeans, which didn’t help, since flour coated his jeans, too.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
The factory in Thornton-Cleveleys first start operating in the 1950s, when ICI manufactured coating for non-stick frying pans using PFOA.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 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
When it later strikes a protective coating, that charge can suddenly discharge at the point of impact, potentially damaging the material.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 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
The streetlights were already on in the gray darkness, and their light glittered yellow off the snowballs’ icy coating.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
