coat n.
1. constr. with the, an arrest.
Cold Stone Jug (1981) II 23: I have been twice warned for the coat. |
2. (S. Afr. prison) a life sentence [note the blue coat orig. worn by prisoners].
Bandiet 123: The nine-to-never indeterminate sentence (known as a ‘coat’ after the blue coat originally worn by habituals). |
3. (US und.) $100, in context of a bribe of payoff to the police.
Out on the Cutting Edge 48: A coat, in police parlance, is a hundred dollars. A hat is twenty-five. A pound is five. The terms took hold years ago, when [...] British currency pegged higher. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US Und.) theft.
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
see armour n. (1)
(US prison) throwing a coat over a prisoner’s head prior to beating him up.
Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Coat Party: Throwing a coat over a youth’s head and shoulders (so he can’t see) and beating him with fists and feet. This is usually done for non-payment of a debt. |
(Aus. prison) an escapee.
Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Coat puller. Escapee. |
(Aus.) a racecourse tout; also attrib.; thus n. + vi./vtr. coat-tug, coat-tugging .
Up the Cross 117: Whenever the Flea ran short of on-course moolah he used to indulge in a bit of coat-tugging. | (con. 1959)||
Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xxi: coat-tugger: a person found on racecourses who illegally offers tips for money. A tout. Note: Not to be misconstrued as a distant cousin known as the ‘lapel-tugger’ who would not wait for prospective clients to approach and instead would indicate that he was privy to ‘inside oil’ by signalling said ‘mark’ with a little tug on his own coat lapel. | ||
Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xxiv: ‘We all know about your reputation as a tugger [...]’ the male wal had said with a smirk. | ||
Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers : ‘I fair dinkum fell for the old coat-tug trick. I must be the worst idiot mug in the world I reckon.’. | ||
Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 255: [He] was [...] trying to coat-tug and flog his sometimes watery version of oil. | ||
Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 240: [H]e was coat-tugged by a stranger who politely craved his indulgence before calling him to one side. | ||
Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xxii: So when the word got around the traps and tracks about his being obliged to take on coat-tugging, a very strange and hitherto unheard-of, almost inconceivable thing happened. |
In phrases
to beat someone.
Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse n.p.: Verbes: I coyle ones kote, I beate hym, je bastonne. |
(Aus.) the length of the working day.
Bride of Gospel Place 109: Smithy: Talk about a sweater. It was head-down from coat-off to stagger-home. |
(Aus.) to dismiss, to reject.
(con. 1964-65) Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 137: ‘Natalie gave him the coat [...] Brushed him and told him to piss off’. |
(Aus./N.Z. prison) ostracised, ‘sent to Coventry’.
Doing Time 114: Child tamperers usually get together, mainly because the other prisoners have got a dirty on them, they put them on the coat sort of thing, so they usually end up together. | ||
NZEJ 13 34: on the coat or coated adj. To be -; to be ostracised, shunned, to get nothing. | ‘Boob Jargon’ in||
Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 214: Put on the coat = shunned, ostracised, gets nothing. Other inmates don’t talk to you. |