bluecoat

plural bluecoats

1. UKattributiveoftenA pupil attending any of certain prestigious British schools having a traditional dress code.

   This was a bluecoat school in my day.

2. UShistoryA soldier or officer in the Union army during the American Civil War.

   The shot wounded Thomas Lord, a 73-year-old former New York City police officer from Suffolk, Va., and a bluecoat with the Seventh New York Volunteer Cavalry.

   2009 January 18, Ralph Blumenthal, “Re-enactor Is Indicted in Shooting of a Yankee”, in New York Times

   Synonyms: bluebelly · Antonyms: graycoat, greycoat, grayback, greyback

3. datedA policeman.

   Holonym: thin blue line

   1 more example

   "The offices are up those steps," said the bluecoat.

   1900, Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

   Synonyms: police officer