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Coat vs Suit - What's the difference?

coat | suit |

As nouns the difference between coat and suit

is that coat is (lb) an outer garment covering the upper torso and arms while suit is a set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.

As verbs the difference between coat and suit

is that coat is to cover with a coat of some material while suit is to make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.

coat

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

  • (lb) An outer garment covering the upper torso and arms.
  • *
  • *:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
  • *
  • *:Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days.Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
  • (lb) A covering of material, such as paint.(w)
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Fruit of all kinds, in coat / Rough or smooth rined, or bearded husk, or shell.
  • (lb) The fur or feathers covering an animal's skin.
  • :
  • Canvas painted with thick tar and secured round a mast or bowsprit to prevent water running down the sides into the hold (now made of rubber or leather).
  • (lb) A petticoat.
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:a child in coats
  • The habit or vesture of an order of men, indicating the order or office; cloth.
  • *(Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • *:Men of his coat should be minding their prayers.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:She was sought by spirits of richest coat .
  • A coat of arms.(w)
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, / Or tear the lions out of England's coat .
  • A coat card.
  • *(Philip Massinger) (1583-1640)
  • *:Here's a trick of discarded cards of us! We were ranked with coats as long as old master lived.
  • Derived terms

    * buffy coat * coat of arms * greatcoat * covert-coat * overcoat

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cover with a coat of some material
  • One can buy coated frying pans, which are much easier to wash up than normal ones.
  • To cover as a coat.
  • Anagrams

    * * * * 1000 English basic words

    suit

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suit ed men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • (by extension) A single garment that covers the whole body: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit.
  • (pejorative, slang) A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor.
  • A full set of armour.
  • (legal) The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.
  • (obsolete) The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase.
  • Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship.
  • Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end. —(Alexander Pope).
  • The full set of sails required for a ship.
  • (card games) Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by color and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds and French playing cards.
  • To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences. — (William Cowper).
  • (obsolete) Regular order; succession.
  • Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again. — (Francis Bacon).
  • (obsolete) The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal.
  • Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone. — (Edmund Spenser).
  • (archaic) A company of attendants or followers; a retinue.
  • (archaic) A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.)
  • Derived terms

    * birthday suit * bring suit * diving suit * flight suit * follow suit * out of suits * pressure suit * shell suit * suit and service * suit broker * suit court * suit covenant * suit custom * suit service * suitcase * swimsuit * tracksuit * zoot suit

    See also

    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
  • To be suitable or apt for one's image.
  • :
  • :
  • To be appropriate or apt for.
  • :
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • :Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
  • *(Matthew Prior) (1664-1721)
  • *:Raise her notes to that sublime degree / Which suits song of piety and thee.
  • *
  • *:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
  • (lb) To dress; to clothe.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:So went he suited to his watery tomb.
  • To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to fit one's taste.
  • :
  • (lb) To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; — usually followed by to'', archaically also followed by ''with .
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:The place itself was suiting to his care.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • *:Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill.
  • Synonyms

    * to agree: agree, match, answer

    Derived terms

    * suited and booted * suit up * suit yourself