pac-a-mac

English

Etymology

Originally a brand name coined in 1949 as a shortening of "pack a macintosh".

Noun

pac-a-mac (plural pac-a-macs)

1. (British) A lightweight rainjacket that can be compressed into a small pocket-sized bag.
   • 2003, Eric Goulden, A Dysfunctional Success: The Wreckless Eric Manual, page 20:

     And there she was - wearing a dark blue pac-a-mac over a blue brushed-nylon nightdress, topped off with a hairnet. It was as though Death itself had just walked into the kitchen. She always wore the pac-a-mac because a dressing gown would have taken up valuable space in her suitcase.

   • 2011, Kate Harrison, Brown Owl's Guide To Life:

     It was raining hard when the girls came back into the Brownie circle for vespers, and the gaggle of mums gathered in the Drill Hall porch, sweating in their pac-a-macs and listening to the water swishing down the guttering.

   • 2017, Tom Chesshyre, From Source to Sea:

     I am the only customer in the Perch in possession of a backpack and wearing a pac-a-mac, which I've yet to take off despite the sun coming out.