Word Origin & History
coat
c.1300, "outer garment," from O.Fr. cote, from Frank. *kotta "coarse cloth," of unknown origin. Transferred to animal's natural covering c.1390. Extended 1663 to a layer of any substance covering any surface. A coat of arms (1489) was originally a coat with heraldic devices, worn over armor. To turncoat was to put one's coat on inside-out to hide one's badge. Coat-tail is c.1600; in the political slang sense, first recorded 1848 (in a Congressional speech by Abraham Lincoln, in reference to Andrew Jackson).