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• mackintosh
  mackintosh

  noun

  a raincoat made of rubberized cloth.
• Mackintosh
  Mackintosh

  noun

  Charles Rennie 1868–1928, Scottish architect and designer.

mackintosh

¹ American  

[mak-in-tosh] / ˈmæk ɪnˌtɒʃ /

Or macintosh

noun

• mackintoshes
  plural

1. a raincoat made of rubberized cloth.

2. such cloth.

3. Chiefly British. any raincoat.

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Mackintosh ² American  

[mak-in-tosh] / ˈmæk ɪnˌtɒʃ /

noun

1. Charles Rennie 1868–1928, Scottish architect and designer.

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mackintosh ¹ British  

/ ˈmækɪnˌtɒʃ /

noun

1. a waterproof raincoat made of rubberized cloth

2. such cloth

3. any raincoat

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Mackintosh ² British  

/ ˈmækɪnˌtɒʃ /

noun

1. Sir Cameron ( Anthony ). born 1946, British producer of musicals and theatre owner; his productions include Cats (1981), Les Misérables (1985), Miss Saigon (1987), and My Fair Lady (2001)

2. Charles Rennie. 1868–1928, Scottish architect and artist, exponent of the Art Nouveau style; designer of the Glasgow School of Art (1896)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mackintoshed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mackintoshes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mackintosh

1830–40; after Charles Macintosh (1766–1843), its inventor

Explanation

A mackintosh is a kind of raincoat. If you have to walk your dog in the pouring rain, you may want to wear a mackintosh. You may think of a particular brand of computer or a piece of fruit when you see the word mackintosh, but those are spelled differently. Mackintosh is the name for a long, waterproof jacket, particularly in the U.K. The word is sometimes used for other waterproof items, like a mackintosh hat, and it's often abbreviated as mac. In 1823, a Scot named Charles Macintosh invented a waterproofing process, and the word (spelled both with and without a "k") stuck.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mackintosh Mackintosh mackintoshes

“She wore what she was told without argument, apart from a long, drab mackintosh that she loathed,” Crawford wrote in her controversial memoir, “The Little Princesses.”

From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2022

She was doing a fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in the mid-2010s when she saw a red mackintosh from the 1960s.

From Science Magazine ● Jul. 2, 2021

Only a few days later, John Galliano debuted what he called an “artisanal” men’s wear collection for Margiela: Electric blue vinyl pants and vampy décortiqué boots were juxtaposed against a Japonisme mackintosh coat.

From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2019

"I think it's the coat," she says as yet another blogging fashionista takes a snap of her canary yellow Burberry mackintosh.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 6, 2011

I must have been the first person to put on that mackintosh since the handkerchief was used.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Glasgow School of Art says it cannot fully restore the city's iconic Mackintosh Building to its former state without additional financial support.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Mackintosh recalled spending 15 consecutive hours fine-tuning around 25,000 lines of code in an application.

From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026

Columnist James Mackintosh explains why the technical excuses for gold’s fall don’t stand up to scrutiny—and what is really going on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026

Murphy describes the Union Street buildings as being "stone box exteriors with timber in it" - the same sort of design technique used by Mackintosh at the School of Art.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

Mackintosh and his entourage were now entering Levittown proper, the postwar suburban colossus.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

As they waited for daylight and a glimpse of history, they squirmed under umbrellas, mackintoshes, soggy blankets and newspapers.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the uncertain weather of a belated Moscow spring, delegates laid aside their fur-collared coats, put on trench coats or mackintoshes as delegations prepared to leave.

From Time Magazine Archive

Limelight went to the post, through a sea of glistening mackintoshes, a 5-to-1 favorite.

From Time Magazine Archive

With the aid of the glass I could see the tourists turn out of the hotels, without mackintoshes and with umbrellas furled. 

From The Cruise of the Elena or Yachting in the Hebrides by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie

Of course the "Ayes" had it, and we are now putting the whole house in requisition for cloaks, mantles, and mackintoshes.

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. I by Charles James Lever

Related Words

• overcoat
• slicker
• trench coat