black-coated
English edit
Etymology edit
From black + coated, from the black coats traditionally worn by clergy, lawyers, and other professional and clerical workers.
Adjective edit
black-coated (not comparable)
- (chiefly UK, dated) white-collar, relating to office workers or office work
- 1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1, page 219:
- Briefly, it limited the number of persons of Jewish religion to be admitted to the professions of the Press, the Theatre (including Films), the Law, Medicine and Engineering, and to black-coated employments both in these professions and in financial, commercial or industrial enterprises employing more than ten persons to 20 per cent.
- 2008, Timothy G. McMahon, Grand Opportunity: The Gaelic Revival and Irish Society, 1893–1910, →ISBN, page 107:
- Although the largest segment of the membership, category III, included other skilled workers, the vast majority in this segment—about 90 percent—came from the expanding ranks of the black-coated workers.
See also edit
- Not to be confused with black-collar.