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sack coat

sack coat

7.9
A man's hip-length coat with a straight back that forms the jacket of a suit
  • noun
  • /sæk koʊt/
translation icon : chaqueta
  • The tailor designed a classic sack coat that complemented the suit perfectly.

Examples

  • Leslie Miller, a famous professor of classics, had to wear a sack coat he used when he went biking.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • He wore a smart sack coat over his shirt for the formal meeting.

  • For the winter party, he selected a warm sack coat that reached his hips.

Synonyms

jacket
vssack coat
1.0

A short coat that reaches the waist or hips and fastens at the front

is hip-length with a straight back and used as part of a suit
coat
vssack coat
957 1.0

A warm piece of clothing with sleeves worn outside

is a hip-length formal piece with a straight back used in suits
box coat
vssack coat
4.6

A short loose-fitting coat that hangs straight from the shoulders

is hip-length with a straighter back and tailored for suits

How Fitted

tailored
1 4.0
sport coat
  • US
8 3.4
sack coat
7.9
robe
284 1.3

Surface Forms

sack coat singular
sack coats plural

Morphology

sack + coat

The meaning is directly compositional: 'sack' (a loose, hip-length jacket) combined with 'coat' (an outer garment) yields a specific type of coat. This follows regular noun–noun compounding patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent senses would readily infer the MWE's meaning (noting that 'sack' also has a non-clothing sense, but given the clothing sense it is transparent).

Etymology

The noun sack coat may come from the old word sack, meaning 'bag', because the jacket hangs straight and loose like a bag instead of being fitted at the waist. That's why the name describes a simple hip-length coat with a straight back.