Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Frock \Frock\ (fr[o^]k), n. [F. froc a monk's cowl, coat, garment, LL. frocus, froccus, flocus, floccus, fr. L. floccus a flock of wool; hence orig., a flocky cloth or garment; cf. L. flaccus flabby, E. flaccid.]
A loose outer garment; especially, a gown forming a part of European modern costume for women and children; also, a coarse shirtlike garment worn by some workmen over their other clothes; a smock frock; as, a marketman's frock.
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A coarse gown worn by monks or friars, and supposed to take the place of all, or nearly all, other garments. It has a hood which can be drawn over the head at pleasure, and is girded by a cord.
Frock coat, a body coat for men, usually double-breasted, the skirts not being in one piece with the body, but sewed on so as to be somewhat full.
Smock frock. See in the Vocabulary.
Wiktionary
n. A coat with long skirts, worn by men, now only on formal occasions.
WordNet
n. a man's coat having knee-length skirts front and back; worn in the 19th century
Wikipedia
A frock coat is a man's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt (often cut just above the knee) all around the base, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The double-breasted style is sometimes called a Prince Albert (after the consort to Queen Victoria). The frock coat is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at the back, and some features unusual in post-Victorian dress. These include the reverse collar and lapels, where the outer edge of the lapel is cut from a separate piece of cloth from the main body, and also a high degree of waist suppression, where the coat's diameter round the waist is much less than round the chest. This is achieved by a high horizontal waist seam with side bodies, which are extra panels of fabric above the waist used to pull in the naturally cylindrical drape.
The frock coat was widely worn in much the same situations as modern lounge suits and formalwear, with different variations. One example is that a frock coat for formalwear was always double-breasted with peaked lapels; as informal wear, the single-breasted frock coat often sported the step, or notched, lapel (the cause of its informality), and was more common in the early 19th century than the formal model.
Dress coats and morning coats, the other main knee-length coats of the period, shared the waist seam of frock coats, making them all body coats, but differed in the cut of the skirt, as the frock coat does not have the cut away front which gives dress coats and morning coats tails at the back. As was usual with all coats in the 19th century, shoulder padding (called 'American shoulders') was rare or minimal. The formal frock coat only buttons down to the waist seam, which is decorated at the back with a pair of buttons. The frock coat that buttoned up to the neck, forming a high, stand-up collar, was worn only by clergymen.
Usage examples of "frock coat".
She gazed at the image of Man, dressed in frock coat, top hat, and walking stick.
The corpse was dressed in a much-decayed frock coat, tie, and tails, and was well on its way toward decomposition.
And to mock him, it seemed, or to mock me, they had dressed him in a gentleman's fancy velvet frock coat.
I went to the rail and I looked down and I saw the speck of color that was his frock coat against the rocks far below.
A tall, thin man of about forty-five years, dressed in a frock coat and a high silk hat, had just come round an angle of the drive and was moving slowly towards them.
The dress sword at his belt under his opened frock coat seemed to belong there.
It would look very smart upon one of the fine frilled shirts, which, with the gold-laced cap and the frogged frock coat, that might easily be cut down to suit his shape, and the Captain’.
The back of his gray frock coat veined with spider-webs and the mummies of a dozen flies who had found in the Tribune s window frame their final Egypt.
Emerson went upstairs to change out of the despised frock coat, and I proceeded to the drawing room.
He had on that frock coat he always wore when he come up to Chokoloskee Bay on business, and he shifted as I come forward, cocking his head with that little smile of his, and put the lard tin he was buying back down on the counter with a small sharp click.