petticoat

noun

1. (historical)A tight, usually padded undercoat worn by women over a shirt and under the doublet.
2. (historical)A woman's undercoat, worn to be displayed beneath an open gown.
3. (historical)A fisherman's loose canvas or oilcloth skirt.
4. (archaic, historical)A type of ornamental skirt or underskirt, often displayed below a dress; chiefly in plural, designating a woman's skirts collectively.
5. A light woman's undergarment worn under a dress or skirt, and hanging either from the shoulders or (now especially) from the waist; a kind of slip, worn to make the skirt fuller, or for extra warmth.

   ““Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide it not doing its office.” “Your picture may be very exact, Louisa,” said Bingley; “but this was all lost upon me. I thought Miss Elizabeth Bennet looked remarkably well when she came into the room this morning. Her dirty petticoat quite escaped my notice.””

6. (slang)A woman.
7. (historical)A bell-mouthed piece over the exhaust nozzles in the smokebox of a locomotive, strengthening and equalising the draught through the boiler-tubes.

verb

1. (transitive)To dress in a petticoat.

adj

1. (dated, not-comparable)Feminine; female; involving a woman.

   “petticoat influence”

   “a petticoat affair”

   “Phœb[us]. Know you the Reaſon of this preſent Summons? […] / Merc[ury]. And Venus may know more than both of us, / For 'tis ſome Petticoat Affair I gueſs.”