pick a hole in someone's coat

verb

To find fault with someone.

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Meanings

verbpick a hole in someone's coat (third-person singular simple present picks a hole in someone's coat, present participle picking a hole in someone's coat, simple past and past participle picked a hole in someone's coat)

present singular third person picks a hole in someone's coat · participle present picking a hole in someone's coat · participle past picked a hole in someone's coat · past picked a hole in someone's coat

  1. archaicTo find fault with someone.

    'Sheartikins, they know I follow it to do it no good, unless they pick a hole in my Coat for lending you Money now and then, which is a greater Crime to my Conscience, Gentlemen, than to the Common-Wealth.

    1677, Aphra Behn, The Rover, or, the Banish't Cavaliers, page 8
Cite this entry
APA

pick a hole in someone's coat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pick%20a%20hole%20in%20someone's%20coat

MLA

“pick a hole in someone's coat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pick%20a%20hole%20in%20someone's%20coat. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pick a hole in someone's coat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pick%20a%20hole%20in%20someone's%20coat.

Source: pick a hole in someone's coat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.