mackintosh, n.
Forms:
18– macintosh, 18– mackintosh. Also with capital initial.(Show Less)
Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Macintosh.
Etymology: < the name of Charles Macintosh (1766–1843), used to designate garments made of the waterproof material invented by him (British patent no. 4804, 17 June 1823), consisting of two or more layers of cloth cemented together with India rubber dissolved in naphtha.
Now chiefly Brit.
I. Compounds.
1. General attrib., designating garments and other articles made of waterproof material, as mackintosh cape, mackintosh cloak, mackintosh coat, mackintosh covering, mackintosh sheet, etc.
1835 Analyst 2 158
The fiery charger is exchanged for the chariot and the horsemen, and an ‘escort for the mountains’, or else the more humble guise of a sorry hack and a Mackintosh cloak.
1836 J. Murray Hand-bk. for Travellers on Continent p. xxi
A Mackintosh cloak is almost indispensable.
1849 Brit. Q. Rev. Feb. 5
Old port, tender mutton and Mackintosh capes are excellent things, no doubt.
1852 V. Lush Jrnl. 18 Apr.
(1971)
111
At ten the Bishop arrived alone—on horseback—with his robes in a mackintosh bag fastened before him across his saddle.
1853 C. Reade Christie Johnstone 227
A fisherman's long mackintosh coat.
1859 W. Collins Queen of Hearts I. 117
Jessie put on my macintosh cloak.
1889 Lancet 27 Apr. 830/1
The bed is covered with a mackintosh sheet.
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 296/3
Men's Double Texture Mackintosh Box Coats, double breasted, all wool black tricot.., fancy plaid lining, silk velvet collar.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 579
India-rubber or mackintosh coverings are certainly effectual.
1908 E. M. Forster Room with View vi. 101
She produced two of those mackintosh squares that protect the frame of the tourist from damp grass or cold marble steps.
1931 V. Woolf Waves in Sel. Wks.
(2007)
758
Louis, when he let himself down on the grass, cautiously spreading (I do not exaggerate) a mackintosh square, made one acknowledge his presence.
1944 A. Waugh His Second War §19. 21
His camp bed was set out, his valise unrolled. His mackintosh sheet was on the ground.
1835—1944(Hide quotations)
2. Objective, as mackintosh-maker.
1851 Illustr. London News 5 Aug.
(1854)
119/1
Macintosh-maker.
1915 Index to Occupations
(U.S. Bureau of Census)
355
Mackintosh maker, rubber factory.
1976 Times 17 June 10/3
Mr Wilson's political and personal secretary, his physician, his publisher, his butcher, his baker and his mackintosh maker.
2001 Scotsman
(Nexis)
26 Feb. 1
Cumbernauld-based Mackintosh maker Traditional Weatherwear.
1851—2001(Hide quotations)
II. Simple senses.
3. Originally: a full-length coat or cloak made of waterproof rubberized material. Subsequently: a rainproof coat made of this or some other material.
1836 Dickens in Libr. Fiction Apr. 10
Looking as if she were enveloped in a patent Mackintosh.
1840 H. W. Longfellow Jrnl. 16 May in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow
(1886)
I. xxi. 354
Sumner striding down Hancock Street in his white mackintosh.
1842 R. H. Barham Misadventures Margate in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 154
I could not see my Macintosh..Nor yet my best white beaver hat.
1871 T. Carlyle in Lett. & Memorials J. W. Carlyle
(1883)
I. 141
Wrapt in an old dressing-gown with mackintosh buttoned round it.
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 188/2
Ladies' Single Military Cape Mackintosh. Made from extra fine all wool Scotch mixed cheviot, with fine, soft dressy finish.
1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 22/2
She was ready.., her mackintosh laid on a chair.
1956 A. S. C. Ross in N. Mitford Noblesse Oblige 30
Burberry and raincoat are of the same genre, macintosh or mac being normal.
1986 J. Gloag Only Yesterday
(1988)
11
I'd hang that mackintosh up in the cloakroom, it's dripping all over the floor.
2008 J. Von Kesmark Kytos lxxiv. 248
He had wrapped his mackintosh around him and placed his woollen cap on the floor to act as a pillow.
1836—2008(Hide quotations)
4. Cloth made waterproof by a layer of rubber. Now rare.
1880 W. MacCormac Antiseptic Surg. 170
The mackintosh should be dipped, shortly before use, in carbolic solution.
1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 429
If necessary, a square of mackintosh is placed under the draw-sheet.
1928 J. H. Kellogg Rational Hydrotherapy 840
The requisites are: an ordinary towel;..if special protection is required, a piece of mackintosh a little larger than the folded flannel.
1974 G. Foakes My Part of River v. 15
My mother,..a square of mackintosh pinned over her chest, rubbed each piece [of washing] with ‘Sunlight’ soap.
1880—1974(Hide quotations)