Well attestedNamed from the place
Chicago overcoat
noun · first attested 1930s
Raymond Chandler put it in print in 1939, and it has been gangster shorthand ever since.
A coffin; by extension, being murdered.
41.8819°N -87.6278°W · Q1297
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1930s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Chicago
- In English
Chicago overcoat
Green's Dictionary of Slang traces the image to sealing a corpse in cement before dumping it, which is also why the phrase doubles for cement shoes. Its first recorded use is in Chandler's The Big Sleep in 1939. It belongs to the same Prohibition-era Chicago set as Chicago typewriter and Chicago lightning.
Also pinned to Chicago
3 more from the same place
United States
All 153 entries 149 more words from United States
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