petticoat
UK/ˈpɛt.ɪ.kəʊt/US/ˈpɛt.ɪ.koʊt/
petticoat noun: a tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
Noun
petticoat (plural petticoats)
- A tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
- A woman's undercoat, worn to be displayed beneath an open gown.
- A fisherman's loose canvas or oilcloth skirt.
- A type of ornamental skirt or underskirt, often displayed below a dress; chiefly in plural, designating a woman's skirts collectively.
- A light woman's undergarment worn under a dress or skirt, and hanging either from the shoulders or (now especially) from the waist; a kind of slip, worn to make the skirt fuller, or for extra warmth.
- “Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide it not doing its office.”
- “Your picture may be very exact, Louisa,” said Bingley; “but this was all lost upon me. I thought Miss Elizabeth Bennet looked remarkably well when she came into the room this morning. Her dirty petticoat quite escaped my notice.”1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 76–77
- A woman.
- A bell-mouthed piece over the exhaust nozzles in the smokebox of a locomotive, strengthening and equalising the draught through the boiler-tubes.
Verb
petticoat (third-person singular simple present petticoats, present participle petticoating, simple past and past participle petticoated)
- To dress in a petticoat.
Adjective
petticoat (not comparable)
petticoat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
petticoat in Hindi
- petticoat
- साया sāyā
petticoat in Tamil
- உள்பாவாடை, மகளிர் உள்ளாடை
petticoat in Urdu
- سایہ
petticoat in Bengali
- woman's undergarment worn under a skirt
- শায়া śaẏa
More languagesFewer languages
- petticoat in Telugu
- లోలంగా lōlaṅgā
- petticoat in Malayalam
- പാവാട pāvāṭa
- petticoat in Kannada
- ಒಳಲಂಗ, ಒಳಪಾವಡೆ
- petticoat in Gujarati
- ચણિયો caṇiyo
- petticoat in Tagalog
- nagwas
Examples of petticoat in a sentence
- Beatrice gathered up the hem of her petticoat.
- The sort of woman with crimson hair and rainbow petticoats, come-hither eyes and a throaty laugh.
- Whuskers and petticoats wi' the vices o' both and the virtues o' neither.
Synonyms of petticoat
Forms of petticoat
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | petticoats |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | petticoats |
| present participle | petticoating |
| past participle | petticoated |
| past | petticoated |
Origin of petticoat
From Middle English petticote, petycote, peticote, petite cote, equivalent to petty + coat.
Words formed from petticoat
Phrases with petticoat
Questions about petticoat
- What does petticoat mean?
- Petticoat means a tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
- What is petticoat in Hindi?
- Petticoat in Hindi is साया (sāyā). See Petticoat meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is petticoat?
- Petticoat can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce petticoat?
- Petticoat is pronounced /ˈpɛt.ɪ.kəʊt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of petticoat?
- The plural of petticoat is petticoats.
Words near petticoat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: petticoat (page history and authors); साया (Hindi) (page history and authors); petticoat (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); petticoat (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പാവാട (Malayalam) (page history and authors); petticoat (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ચણિયો (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-petticoat.ogg.
Cite this entry: “petticoat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/petticoat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.