Chicago overcoat

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

Chicago overcoat (plural Chicago overcoats)

1. (US, slang) A coffin; hence (figuratively) death; being killed or murdered.
   • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 189:

     ‘Go ahead and blast and see what it gets you.’
     ‘A Chicago overcoat is what it would get you, little man.’

2. (US, slang) Synonym of concrete overcoat or synonym of cement shoes.

Related terms

• Chicago lightning (“gunfire”), Chicago typewriter (“tommy gun”)

Further reading

• “Chicago overcoat n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present