coat trailing

coat trailing (countable and uncountable, plural coat trailings)

1. Alternative form of coat-trailing
   • 1951, Scottish Adult Education - Issues 1-25:

     In order to find out the class level as early as possible, a bit of coat trailing on the very first evening seems to be a good thing, provoking plenty of discussion and giving the tutor ample opportunity to study form.

   • 1986, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Lords official report, page 405:

     My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Viscount for the way in which he has introduced the Bill. It was much less provocative and with much less coat trailing than the way in which it was introduced in another place.

   • 2010, David Burnett-James, Ravel: Illustrated Lives Of The Great Composers, →ISBN:

     He was commended for his work, and there is no suggestion that if he had eschewed all coat trailings his success would have been greater.

   • 2012, Ben Macintyre, Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, →ISBN, page 55:

     Elvira had spent several weeks 'coat trailing' through the South of France, spending time in casinos and expensive restaurants while maintaining her 'cosmopolitan cover as a society girl mixing in the very top circles', without so much as a sniff from German intelligence.