frock-coat

A form of frock coat — A coat with long skirts, worn by men, now only on formal occasions.

Meanings

nounfrock-coat (plural frock-coats)

plural frock-coats

  1. alternativeAlternative form of frock coat.

    From behind that structure came out an impression of pale plumpness in a frock-coat.

    1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 200, column 1
    5 more examples

    Most of the officers were dressed in uniform which is neat and serviceable—viz., a bluish-grey frock-coat of a colour similar to Austrian yagers.

    1863, [Arthur Lyon] Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June 1863, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 156

    They delight in blue frock-coats and grass-green Newmarkets, and white hats with mourning-bands.

    1864 July, George Augustus Sala, “[The Streets of the World.] Liverpool: Church Street.”, in Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume XI, London: Office of “Temple Bar,” […]. Ward and Lock, […]. New York: Willmer and Rogers, page 484

    First, an irrepressible wrinkle or two in the waist of his frock-coat—denoting that he had not damned his tailor sufficiently to drive that tradesman up to the orthodox high pressure of cunning workmanship.

    1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘We frolic while ’Tis May’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC, page 20

    A lot of young men in long frock-coats glued to the door-posts, so limp, poor things, and all the women drinking tea by themselves and longing for the young men.

    1892, Hilarion [pseudonym; Campbell McKellar], “Judy on Society”, in A Jersey Witch, London: Eden, Remington & Co […], page 87

    So there, my dear Bertie, was I, within a few hours of my entrance into this town, with my top-hat down to my ears, my highly professional frock-coat, and my kid gloves, fighting some low bruiser on a pedestal in one of the most public places, in the heart of a yelling and hostile mob!

    1895, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, chapter X, in The Stark Munro Letters: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 215
Cite this entry
APA

frock-coat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frock-coat

MLA

“frock-coat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frock-coat. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “frock-coat,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frock-coat.

Source: frock-coat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.