Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A coat worn beneath another coat.
  • noun A covering of short hairs lying underneath the longer outer hairs of an animal's coat.
  • noun A coat of sealing material applied to a surface before the outer coats, as of paint, are applied.
  • noun The sealing material used for this purpose.
  • noun A tarlike substance sprayed on the underside of a vehicle to prevent rusting.
  • transitive verb To apply an undercoat to.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A coat for house-wear, or for use in mild weather, as distinguished from an overcoat.
  • noun In long-haired animals, the under layer of hair.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A coat worn under another; a light coat, as distinguished from an overcoat, or a greatcoat.
  • noun A growth of short hair or fur partially concealed by a longer growth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A layer of short hairs underneath the longer ones of an animal's fur
  • noun A coat of paint or other material applied onto a surface before that of a topcoat; a coloured primer
  • verb To apply an undercoat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun seal consisting of a coating of a tar or rubberlike material on the underside of a motor vehicle to retard corrosion
  • verb cover with a primer; apply a primer to
  • noun the first or preliminary coat of paint or size applied to a surface
  • noun thick soft fur lying beneath the longer and coarser guard hair

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

under- +‎ coat

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word undercoat.

Examples

  • He's cute, small (20lbs), and currently moulting (ie, his undercoat is shedding in ginormous clumps), in case you're new to the blog and haven't seen pictures.

    Not a fox... or a husky 2007

  • He's cute, small (20lbs), and currently moulting (ie, his undercoat is shedding in ginormous clumps), in case you're new to the blog and haven't seen pictures.

    Archive 2007-07-01 2007

  • The best thing is that it gets all of the undercoat, which is especially important in a Lab like Connor who's got that double coat of fur.

    Candidateblogs.baltimoresun.com Blogs - Baltimore Sun Candidate Blog 2010

  • As a digital artist, working from an exact middle grey 'undercoat' helps me to ensure my tones are correct, despite monitor variations.

    Classifying Values James Gurney 2009

  • Cashmere comes mainly from the "undercoat" of the cashmere goat.

    The Guardian World News Leo Hickman 2011

  • ON SUNDAY [SEPTEMBER 29, 1907] … What you experienced with the Portuguese grape is something I know so well: I am feeling it simultaneously in two pomegranates I recently bought from Potin; how glorious they are in their massive heaviness, with the curved ornament of the pistil still on the top; princely in their golden skins with the red undercoat showing through, strong and genuine, like the leather of old Cordovan tapestries.

    pomegranates « bindu wiles 2009

  • The walls in the bathroom had not been painted in a while, they had that peculiar white/yellow tinge which indicated the undercoat was seeping through.

    Stuck Luke Houghton 2011

  • Getty Images Small dogs that lack a thick undercoat, like this miniature pinscher, may need outerwear in the wintertime.

    Ready for the Dog Days of Winter? Gwendolyn Bounds 2011

  • It's the undercoat that musk ox, which have been around since the last Ice Age apparently having survived it better than its contemporary, the wooly mammoth, shed as they frolic in the frozen north.

    Warming Up to the Plaza Ralph Gardner Jr. 2011

  • ON SUNDAY [SEPTEMBER 29, 1907] … What you experienced with the Portuguese grape is something I know so well: I am feeling it simultaneously in two pomegranates I recently bought from Potin; how glorious they are in their massive heaviness, with the curved ornament of the pistil still on the top; princely in their golden skins with the red undercoat showing through, strong and genuine, like the leather of old Cordovan tapestries.

    November « 2009 « bindu wiles 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.