topcoat

English

A man wearing a topcoat over his suit, 1901

Etymology

From top + coat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɒpkəʊt/

Noun

topcoat (plural topcoats)

1. A light overcoat.
   • 1890 February, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Story of the Bald-headed Man”, in The Sign of Four (Standard Library), London: Spencer Blackett […], →OCLC, pages 66–67:

     Our new acquaintance very deliberately coiled up the tube of his hookah, and produced from behind a curtain a very long befrogged topcoat with Astrakhan collar and cuffs.

   • 1988, Richard E. Kim, Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood, page 100:

     He is wearing a black armband on the left sleeve of his gray topcoat.

   • 2003, Thomas Bernhard, translated by Kenneth J. Northcott, Walking: Three Novellas, page 114:

     Whereas Oehler habitually wears his topcoat completely buttoned up, I leave my topcoat completely open.

   • 2007, Ricardo Morada, So This Is the Good Old United States of America!, page 42:

     Then he opened his closet and took out a black topcoat. It was heavily lined with silk, soft to the touch.

2. A layer of paint or varnish etc. applied after the undercoat.
   • 1966, Forest Products Laboratory (U.S.), Wood Finishing: Painting Outside Wood Surfaces, page 2:

     Apply two topcoats, particularly to areas that are fully exposed to the weather such as the south side of the house. A total of three coats (primer and two topcoats) should result in an optimum thickness of 4-1/2 to 5 mils.

   • 2007, N. Nakayama, K. Morishita, S. Ochiai, T. Sekigawa, K. Aoyama, A. Ikawa, “Evaluation of Environmental Barrier Coatings for SiC/SiC Composites”, in Dongming Zhu, Uwe Schulz, editors, Advanced Ceramic Coatings and Interfaces, page 169:

     Fig. 7 shows the microstructures of lutetium silicate topcoat on SiC/SiC composite after various exposure tests.

   • 2011, Jeff Strong, Woodworking For Dummies, unnumbered page:

     Without the protection of the topcoat, your wood constantly expands and contracts and is more susceptible to warping and cracking. Topcoats also improve the look of the wood by adding depth and color.

Related terms

• recoat

Translations

light overcoat

• Bulgarian: палто (bg) n (palto)

layer of paint applied after the undercoat

• Bulgarian: последен пласт боя (posleden plast boja)
• Maori: kiritai

See also

• Inverness cape

Verb

topcoat (third-person singular simple present topcoats, present participle topcoating, simple past and past participle topcoated)

1. (transitive) To apply a topcoat to.