Green’s Dictionary of Slang

coat v.

[the image of grabbing a lapel; note also the beating that accompanies the coating of a miscreant with tar and feathers]

1. to reprimand, to scold.

[UK]J. Morton Lowspeak 41: Coat – to tell off, or to scold, as in ‘I gave him a right coating’.
[Aus](con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 269: ‘I’ll be fuckin’ coated for life’.
[UK]‘Q’ Deadmeat 249: An American man was coating her [...] ‘I don’t need you disrepectin me.’.
[UK]N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 113: The judge absolutely coated me for about ten minutes.

2. to arrest; thus, as n., a suspect.

[UK] ‘Metropolitan Police Sl.’ in P. Laurie Scotland Yard (1972) 322: coat, have you got a?: intimation of arrest.
[UK]J. Morton Lowspeak 41: Coat – a suspect.

3. to beat up, to hit.

[[US]Wkly Varieties (Boston, MA) 29 Oct. 7/2: Joe [...] must abandon his habit of conveying she-cattle down into his den, or Joseph will be presented with a ‘coat of many colors’].
[UK]‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 168: It’s him you ought to be coating, not me.
[UK]J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 160: Whack. Got coated off like I never been coated.
[Aus](con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 284: To be ‘coated’ or ‘put on the coat’ was street slang for hung out to dry. If someone was coated [...] they would get a hiding.

4. (Aus.) to ostracize [in Aus. one tugs one’s own lapel as a sign that a given person is not to be trusted].

[Aus] ‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxiii 4/3: coated: To be on the outer. Signals are passed on behind an unpopular person’s back by the tugging of one’s coat lapel as a warning to be guarded on what is said.

5. (US gay) to have vaginal, oral or anal intercourse.

[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 87: to insert a cock into a vagina, mouth or anus [...] coat (dated).

In phrases

on the coat

(Aus.) out of favour; esp. in phr. have/put on the coat, to place someone in a position of disfavour.

[Aus]K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 92: I happened to say something about that old hag Jess who runs it, and she’s had me on the coat ever since.
[Aus] ‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxviii 10/1: on the coat: A person who is unpopular.
[NZ]G. Newbold Big Huey 130: A lot of my old mates [...] disapproved totally of what was happening and put me on the coat.
[Aus]Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Coat. As in ‘to put on the coat’, ie send to Coventry. To isolate and ignore someone.
[NZ]D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 44/2: coat n. on the coat shunned, ostracised, ignored by other inmates. put (one) on the coat to shun, ignore, ostracise.