jacket
Americannoun
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jackets
plural
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a short coat, in any of various forms, usually opening down the front.
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something designed to be placed around the upper part of the body for a specific purpose other than use as clothing.
a life jacket.
-
a protective outer covering.
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the skin of a potato, especially when it has been cooked.
-
the cover of a paperbound book, usually bearing an illustration.
-
a paper or cardboard envelope for protecting a phonograph record.
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a metal casing, as the steel covering of a cannon, the steel cover around the core of a bullet, or the water jacket on certain types of machine guns.
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a folded paper or open envelope containing an official document.
verb (used with object)
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jackets,
present (3rd person singular)
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jacketed,
past participle, past
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jacketing
present participle
noun
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a short coat, esp one that is hip-length and has a front opening and sleeves
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something that resembles this or is designed to be worn around the upper part of the body
a life jacket
-
any exterior covering or casing, such as the insulating cover of a boiler
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the part of the cylinder block of an internal-combustion engine that encloses the coolant
-
See dust jacket
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-
the skin of a baked potato
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( as modifier )
jacket potatoes
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-
a metal casing used in certain types of ammunition
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Brit name: sleeve. a cover to protect a gramophone record
-
a folder or envelope to hold documents
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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underjacketnoun
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jacket-likeadjective
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jacketedadjective
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jacketlessadjective
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jacketlikeadjective
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unjacketedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jacketsimple
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jacketssimple
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have jacketedperfect
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has jacketedperfect
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am jacketingprogressive
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are jacketingprogressive
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is jacketingprogressive
-
have been jacketingperfect progressive
-
has been jacketingperfect progressive
Past
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jacketedsimple
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had jacketedperfect
-
was jacketingprogressive
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were jacketingprogressive
-
had been jacketingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jacket
1425–75; late Middle English jaket < Middle French ja ( c ) quet, equivalent to jaque jack 4 + -et -et
Explanation
A jacket is a lightweight or cropped coat. Most jackets end at your waist or hips, while coats can be much longer. If you have outerwear made of denim or leather, feel free to call them jackets. Jackets are generally long-sleeved and fasten with zippers, snaps, or buttons down the front. Other meanings of jacket generally include the sense of "outer covering," like a book jacket or the insulating jacket around your house's pipes. The word comes from the Middle French jaquet, "short coat with sleeves," from the Old French jacque, "tunic."
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:
She called him a “genius” and a “prince” who would put his jacket around her shoulders to protect her from the cold while they shot scenes on the waterfront in Hoboken, N.J.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Jensen Huang started Nvidia wearing garden-variety polo shirts but is now probably legally required to buy every single black leather jacket he comes across for the rest of his life.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026
It started while I was helping my son search the attic for his life jacket.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
Local journalist Miguel Dantas explained the security arrangements were scaled back compared with the first trial, when he wore a bulletproof jacket and there were snipers on the roof.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
She was there, in her chef’s jacket and headscarf and the funny chef’s hat she called a toque.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
A Bulgarian vessel was close by, but when they arrived all they saw was an overturned boat and rafts as well as life jackets.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
It’s also branching beyond jeans into ’90s throwbacks like slip dresses, baby tees and leather jackets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
On Sphere’s escalators, grey-bearded lifers hugged in shredded battle jackets; tween girls in “Master of Puppets” hoodies drummed along to every fill; accents came from eastern Europe, Latin America and all the world over.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Gone are the days of not decontaminating equipment, leaving the ashes on helmets and jackets, in order to boast of past infernos.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
In public school we were told to hide under our desks, or duck on the lawn and cover ourselves with our jackets, or hide along a wall with our hands over our heads.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Newly jacketed Hall of Famer Joe Thomas was added to the Browns’ Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 1, 2023
Crossing a room, the jacketed general manager paused to hold a wine glass up to a light, making sure it was clean.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2023
Meanwhile, one of the jacketed bartenders will almost certainly be bending over a shaker or holding it in the air.
From New York Times ● Jun. 14, 2021
The open kitchen was crowded, too, as a crew of jacketed cooks prepped and flipped patties.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2017
Surprised, Peanut hesitated, then broke for his basket, not noticing that Ben trailed him and not noticing that a flight jacketed figure trailed Ben on the sidelines.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The students have been asked to design a new fabric to be used for menswear sport jacketing.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2023
Book jackets so seldom reflect the nature of what they are jacketing that Philippe Halsman's photo for this collection of Author Moravia's short stories deserves attention.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was really an offence to me when the jacketing ceased.
From The Jacket (Star-Rover) by Jack London
In jacketing vessels, to prevent draughts, care must be taken that the jackets do not cause currents of cold air to rise rapidly up the sides of the vessel, and so cool it.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884 by Various
The object of jacketing is to prevent the loss of heat from the steam within the cylinder by radiation.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
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.
