Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a greatcoat, an overcoat.

1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry I iv: This what do you call it? – this cover-me-decently, was all very well at Hawthorn Hall, I daresay; but here, among the pinks in Rotten-row [...] it would be taken for nothing less than the index of a complete flat.
1832		Sussex Advertiser 17 Dec. 4/2: Mrs Martin [...] was impersonated by a lank, lengthy, raw-boned genius [...] with a straight-collared cover-me-decently.
1840		Flash Mirror 19: R. Rainbow, Slap Toggery-maker; benjamins, top togs, cover-me-decents, togs, and kicks of every sort done to a new move, pinch’d in knee pillow-cases, done fine and work’d to fit any forks.
1890		(ref. to 1820s) C. Hindley Vocab. and Gloss. in True Hist. of Tom and Jerry 169: Cover me Decently. A great coat with men, and a cloak with women.

fashionable, smart clothing.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1840		Flash Mirror 19: R. Rainbow, Slap Toggery-maker; [...] a suit of cover-me-properly executed in twenty-four hours’ notice.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

ragged clothing.

1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

1. to protect a confederate.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 233: To stand in such a situation as to obscure your Pall, who is committing a robbery, from the view of by-standers or persons passing, is called covering him. Any body whose dress or stature renders him particularly eligible for this purpose, is said to be a good cover.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1841		Morn. Post (London) 20 Aug. 4/3: [T]hree pickpockets, who were going about the fair with their ‘flash women,’ who. in the slang phrase, covered their paramours while they committed robberies.
1848		Ladies’ Repository (N.Y.) Oct. VIII:37 316/1: Cover, To conceal the operations of a thief while engaged at work, by standing between him and those you wish to screen him from, or to draw attention from him in any way.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 68/1: Off we slithered to operate, Joe ‘stalling’ me and the ‘flycop covering’ the little ‘moll-tool!’.
1870		Sportsman (London) 27 Jan. 2/1: He gave the [stolen] tea to Sexton, who carried it up the street towards Poplar, being professionally ┌‘covered’ by his confederates.
1913		Curran Report 8: These so-called ‘friendly collars’ have been frequently arranged [. . .] in order to make some show of activity and thereby ‘cover’ an Inspector or Captain.
1939		E. Duplesis Cohort of the Damned 108: [Y]ou must not on any account try to cover me. That would only get you in trouble and do no good .
1968		G. Radano Walking the Beat 94: ‘Try to sober up. Maybe . . . Maybe if you threw up . . . or something . . . I’ll cover for you here’.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 141: The good guys stuck together, helped each other, covered for one another in a jam.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 147: His belief that I was covering for Donny Maitland was now out in the open.

2. to provide ‘protection’.

1958

C. Himes Real Cool Killers (1969) 95: ‘Who covered for him in Harlem?’ he asked.

to look after oneself or someone else; thus attrib. cover-one’s-ass, defensive, self-protective; n. arse-covering, self-protection.

1545		J. Bale A mysterye of inyquyte : All Patriarkes / Archebishoppes / metropolytanes / bisshoppes / lawers / doctors / prestes / presones / curates / monkes / chanons / and nonnes are the bodye / & the .iiii. orders of fryers which came last of all are the tayle that couereth [Satan’s] arse .
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 122: A cat has got to keep his ass covered.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 172: He was a terrific guy, cover your back in a minute.
1985		(con. 1969–70) D. Bodey F.N.G. (1988) 137: The Sixty is good for covering our ass.
1994		P. Muldoon ‘I look out the kitchen window. A cigarette burns...’ Prince of the Quotidian n.p.: But nothing: you know it’s dross; / you know that ‘Erasmus’ stuff is an inept / attempt to cover your arse...
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 86: He energetically set about the task of covering his own ass.
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] [N]o-one would know. His arse was covered.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 126: There’s a man dead on the floor, and all you can think about is covering your ass.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] I had to cover their asses by claiming that I had got onto the trolley without their knowledge.
2010		K. Richards Life 190: And I never got a thank-you from him, ever, for covering his arse.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 109: The real job: how to make collars, cover your ass when you needed to, and not get hurt.
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] ‘This was right after Ollie North, so everyone was in cover-their-ass mode’.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 77: Jist tell ays if ye are [going to commit suicide], so ah kin gie the bizzies some story [...] Goat tae cover ma erse but, ay.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘And there was massive public interest, plus pressure coming down from the pollies making sure their arses were covered’.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 131: ‘It doesn’t hurt to cover your ass’.
2020		G. Disher Consolation 33: Hirsch [...] recorded time, date, location, persons present, the circumstances that had led to the involvement of South Australia police. Arse covering.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 17: [H]e should be thinking of keeping his head down and covering his arse.

(US) of a woman, to menstruate.

1934		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana II 9: Kotex theme song: ‘I cover the waterfront’.
1973		K. Elgin Twenty-eight Days 17: Some other [terms for menstruation] known are: ‘riding the cotton bicycle,’ ‘the hammock is swinging’ (from the shape of the sanitary pad), [...] and ‘she’s covering the waterfront’.