petticoat

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛtɪkəʊt/
(obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛtɪkət/[1]
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

petticoat (plural petticoats)

(historical) A tight, usually padded undercoat worn by men 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], Pride and Prejudice, volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton […], OCLC 38659585, 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

underskirt

Derived terms

petticoat government
petticoating
petticoat pipe
underpetticoat

Translations

historical: ornamental skirt or underskirt

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

woman's undergarment worn under a skirt

Bengali: শায়া (bn) (śaya)
Bulgarian: фуста f (fusta)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 襯裙／衬裙 (zh) (chènqún)
Czech: spodnička (cs) f
Esperanto: subjupo
Finnish: alushame
French: jupon (fr) m, combinaison (fr)
Galician: refaixo f, biso (gl) m, enagua (gl) f
German: Unterrock (de) n, Petticoat m
Greek: μεσοφόρι (el) n (mesofóri)
Hungarian: alsószoknya (hu)
Irish: cóta beag m
Italian: sottoveste (it) f
Japanese: ペチコート (pechikōto)
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)

(transitive) To dress in a petticoat.

Adjective

petticoat (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 228726855, 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.

References

Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 4.412, page 128.