redcoat
See also: red coat
English
Alternative forms
- red coat, red-coat
Etymology
Bahuvrihi compound of red + coat.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
redcoat (plural redcoats)
- (historical) A British soldier.
- 1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXII”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, OCLC 863109715, stanza 1, page 32:
- The street sounds to the soldiers’ tread, / And out we troop to see: / A single redcoat turns his head, / He turns and looks at me.
- 1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, OCLC 28569419, part 2, stanza I, pages 48–49:
- He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon; / And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon, / When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor, / A red-coat troop came marching— / Marching—marching— / King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
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- A member of the entertainment staff at Butlin's holiday camps in the United Kingdom, who wear red blazers.
- 2013 May 16, Mirror News:
- The series ran from 1980 until 1988, and won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984. It was based on Perry’s experiences working as a Redcoat in Butlins.
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- (slang) A fox.
- 1947, Pennsylvania Game News, page 30:
- Hurriedly he made his way around one end of the pond to the spot where he had first sighted the redcoat.
- 1947, Pennsylvania Game News, page 30:
Usage notes
The soldier and entertainment staff uses are sometimes capitalised.
Synonyms
- (British soldier) lobsterback
Verb
redcoat (third-person singular simple present redcoats, present participle redcoating, simple past and past participle redcoated)
- To work as a redcoat, in Butlin's. Also capital Redcoat
Anagrams
- Art Deco, cordate