petticoat

English

Etymology

From Middle English petticote, petycote, peticote, petite cote, equivalent to petty +‎ coat.

Pronunciation

• (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/

Noun

petticoat (plural petticoats)

1. (historical) A tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
2. (historical) A woman's undercoat, worn to be displayed beneath an open gown.
3. (historical) A fisherman's loose canvas or oilcloth skirt.
4. (archaic or historical) A type of ornamental skirt or underskirt, often displayed below a dress; chiefly in plural, designating a woman's skirts collectively.
5. 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.”

6. (slang) A woman.
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.

Synonyms

• underskirt

Derived terms

• petticoat breeches
• petticoat discipline
• petticoated
• petticoatery
• petticoat government
• petticoating
• petticoatless
• petticoat pipe
• petticoat punishment
• petticoat tail
• underpetticoat

Translations

historical: ornamental skirt or underskirt

• French: cotillon (fr) m
• German: Petticoat (de) m
• Irish: cóta beag m
• Italian: sottogonna (it) f
• Scottish Gaelic: còta-bàn m

woman's undergarment worn under a skirt

• Bengali: শায়া (bn) (śaẏa)
• Bulgarian: фуста f (fusta)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 襯裙／衬裙 (zh) (chènqún)

• Czech: spodnička (cs) f
• Danish: underskørt n, underkjole c
• Esperanto: subjupo
• Finnish: alushame
• French: jupon (fr) m, combinaison (fr)
• Galician: refaixo f, biso (gl) m, enagua (gl) f
• German: Unterrock (de) n, Petticoat (de) m
• Greek: μεσοφόρι (el) n (mesofóri)
• Hungarian: alsószoknya (hu)
• Ingrian: aluhame
• Irish: cóta beag m
• Italian: sottoveste (it) f
• Japanese: ペチコート (ja) (pechikōto)
• Ladino: faldar
• Latin: castula f
• Maori: panekoti
• Polish: halka (pl) f
• Portuguese: anágua (pt) f
• Russian: ни́жняя ю́бка (ru) f (nížnjaja júbka), комбина́ция (ru) f (kombinácija) (slip, shift)
• Scottish Gaelic: còta-bàn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀дсукња f

  Roman: pòdsuknja (sh) f

• Slovak: spodnička f, spodničky f
• Spanish: enaguas (es) f , combinación (es) f (Colombian Atlantic Coast), fondo (es) m (Mexico, Venezuela), fustán (es) m (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua), peticote m (Panama), sayuela f (Cuba)
• Swedish: underkjol (sv) c
• Tagalog: nagwas
• Telugu: లోలంగా (lōlaṅgā)
• Volapük: nijuüp (vo), disgun (older word)
• Welsh: pais (cy) f, peisiau (cy) f pl

Verb

petticoat (third-person singular simple present petticoats, present participle petticoating, simple past and past participle petticoated)

1. (transitive) To dress in a petticoat.

Adjective

petticoat (not comparable)

1. (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:

     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.

Further reading

• petticoat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia