coat of mail
1
9.9
- noun
- /koʊt əv meɪl/
- Archaic
:
cota de malla
Examples
-
Their coats of mail vary in color to distinguish their rank.
-
Those voices were heavy with guilt and shame from our childhoods; once I shed them, it was like taking off an enormous coat of mail, like shedding a raccoon coat in the beginning of spring.
Academic text (1995) -
The knight wore a coat of mail to protect himself in battle.
-
During the reenactment, the actor donned a shiny coat of mail to represent a medieval warrior.
-
The ancient artifact on display was a beautifully crafted coat of mail, secured by interlinked metal rings.
Synonyms
31
4.1
Clothing made of strong material that protects the body from bullets and blows
8
7.2
A full set of metal plates that cover the body and protect it in battle, often worn by knights
8
9.9
Armor made of small metal rings joined to protect the body
4
8.6
A flexible shirt of small metal rings joined together for protection
1
9.9
A type of flexible armor made of small metal rings linked together
A suit of armor that covers a soldier and often their horse, used by ancient soldiers on horseback
How Protective
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward composition: 'coat' (an outer garment) + 'of' (linker) + 'mail' (protective linked-metal garment) yields a coat made from mail. Because the overall meaning is directly derivable from the constituents and follows a common noun-of-noun composition found cross-linguistically, a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily understand it.
Etymology
Coat of mail comes from old armor made of many small metal rings linked together like cloth. The coat is the garment and the mail is the linked metal, so it means a 'protective garment' worn in battle.