Petticoat

Quick meaning: Petticoat is a noun meaning (transitive) To dress in a petticoat.

Meaning

(transitive) To dress in a petticoat.

More Meanings

1. 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.
2. (historical) A tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
3. (historical) A woman's undercoat, worn to be displayed beneath an open gown.
4. (historical) A fisherman's loose canvas or oilcloth skirt.
5. (slang) A woman.
6. (archaic or historical) A type of ornamental skirt or underskirt, often displayed below a dress; chiefly in plural, designating a woman's skirts collectively.
7. (historical) A bell-mouthed piece over the exhaust nozzles in the smokebox of a locomotive, strengthening and equalising the draught through the boiler-tubes.

Example Sentences

a petticoat affair

petticoat influence

Phœb[us]. Know you the Reaſon of this preſent Summons? […] / Merc[ury]. And Venus may know more than both of us, / For 'tis ſome Petticoat Affair I gueſs.

“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.”

Word Forms

• petticoats
• petticoating
• petticoated

Synonyms for petticoat

Depending on context, synonyms include underskirt.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include underskirt, skirt, hooped, slip, peticote, underpetticoat.

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