petticoat
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English petticote, petycote, peticote, petite cote, equivalent to petty + coat.
Pronunciation
edit- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɛt.ɪ.kəʊt/
- (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈpɛt.ɪ.koʊt/, [ˈpɛɾ.ɪ.koʊt]
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈpet.ɪ.kəʉt/, [ˈpeɾ.ɪ.kəʉt]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈpɛtɪkət/[1]
Noun
editpetticoat (plural petticoats)
- (historical) A tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
- (historical) A woman's undercoat, worn to be displayed beneath an open gown.
- (historical) A fisherman's loose canvas or oilcloth skirt.
- (archaic or historical) A type of ornamental skirt or underskirt, often displayed below a dress; chiefly in plural, designating a woman's skirts collectively.
- A light woman's undergarment worn under a dress or skirt, and hanging either from the shoulders or (now especially) from the waist; a kind of slip, worn to make the skirt fuller, or for extra warmth.
- 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 76–77:
- “Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide it not doing its office.”
“Your picture may be very exact, Louisa,” said Bingley; “but this was all lost upon me. I thought Miss Elizabeth Bennet looked remarkably well when she came into the room this morning. Her dirty petticoat quite escaped my notice.”
- (slang) A woman.
- (historical) A bell-mouthed piece over the exhaust nozzles in the smokebox of a locomotive, strengthening and equalising the draught through the boiler-tubes.
Synonyms
editDerived terms
edit- petticoat breeches
- petticoat discipline
- petticoated
- petticoatery
- petticoat government
- petticoating
- petticoatless
- petticoat pipe
- petticoat punishment
- petticoat tail
- underpetticoat
Translations
edithistorical: ornamental skirt or underskirt
woman's undergarment worn under a skirt
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Verb
editpetticoat (third-person singular simple present petticoats, present participle petticoating, simple past and past participle petticoated)
- (transitive) To dress in a petticoat.
Adjective
editpetticoat (not comparable)
- (dated) Feminine; female; involving a woman.
- petticoat influence
- a petticoat affair
- 1690, [John] Dryden, Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosia’s. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […]; and M. Tonson […], published 1691, →OCLC, Act I, page 1:
References
edit- ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 4.412, page 128.
Further reading
editCategories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English compound terms
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- English slang
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English dated terms
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Clothing
- en:Underwear