redcoat

• red coat

Bahuvrihi compound of red +‎ coat

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redcoat (plural redcoats)

1. A British soldier, especially during the American Revolution.
   • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad:

     The street sounds to the soldiers’ tread, / And out we troop to see: / A single redcoat turns his head, / He turns and looks at me.

   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;

     And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,

     When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,

     A red-coat troop came marching—

     Marching—marching—

     King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

2. A member of the entertainment staff at Butlin's holiday camps in the United Kingdom, who wear red blazers.

   • Mirror News 16 May 13. The series ran from 1980 until 1988, and won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984. It was based on Perry’s experiences working as a Redcoat in Butlins.

3. (slang) A fox.
   • 1947, Pennsylvania Game News (volumes 18-19, page 30)

     Hurriedly he made his way around one end of the pond to the spot where he had first sighted the redcoat.

The soldier and entertainment staff uses are sometimes capitalised.

• (British soldier) lobsterback

• Art Deco, cordate