Definition of "coat"

It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., page 01

Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins

Fruit of all kinds, in coat / Rough or smooth rined, or bearded husk, or shell.

1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

a child in coats

1693, [John Locke], “§148”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […]

Men of his coat should be minding their prayers.

1729, Jonathan Swift, The Grand Question Debated of Hamilton's Bawn

She was sought by spirits of richest coat.

1609, William Shakespeare, A Lover's Compaint

Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, / Or tear the lions out of England's coat.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v]

Here's a trick of discarded cards of us! We were ranked with coats as long as old master lived.

1656, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Philip Massinger, The Old Law

Door grab handles have been coated with an anti-microbial finish.

2021 January 13, “Fleet News: Final Avanti West Coast Super Voyager refurbished”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 23