Skip to main content
scaffy jacket

scaffy jacket

9.9
A coat that looks worn and untidy
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : chaqueta desgastada
  • The student showed up to class in a scaffy jacket and worn-out jeans.

Examples

  • The actor wore a scaffy jacket that looked like it had seen better days.

  • Despite the cold, she refused to wear her old scaffy jacket outside.

  • He tossed his scaffy jacket onto the back of the chair.

  • He wore a scaffy jacket to the party.

  • Why would you choose that scaffy jacket?

  • He walked into the café wearing a scaffy jacket and a faded hat.

  • At the garage sale, I found an old scaffy jacket that I couldn't resist buying.

Synonyms

schmatte
vsscaffy jacket
  • Informal
9.9

A cheap, worn piece of clothing people wear at home

treats the garment as simply shabby and untidy without affectionate tone

Antonyms

127 2.4

Looks neat, clean, and fashionable

85 2.0

Clothes or rooms that look fashionable and attractive

Surface Forms

scaffy jacket singular

Morphology

scaffy + jacket

The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun combination: if a learner knows 'scaffy' (shabby/untidy) and 'jacket' (a short coat), the meaning 'a shabby/unkempt jacket' is directly and compositionally derivable. Note that 'scaffy' appears nonstandard or rare (absent from major dictionaries), so many learners may not actually know the adjective, but the structure itself is transparently interpretable given knowledge of the constituents.

Etymology

The noun scaffy jacket may come from words like 'scruffy' or 'scabby' that describe something torn or dirty. Picture the word scaffy added to a jacket with holes, patches and dust, and you can see why a scaffy jacket means 'shabby' or 'untidy'.