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waterproofs

nounB2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Waterproofs are the jacket and trousers that keep rain out. Put on your waterproofs.

They must breathe as well as block, or you get just as wet from the inside. Waterproofs stop working when they are dirty, and washing them properly restores them.

Siamsens · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of waterproofs

  1. 1nounwaterproofsThe jacket and trousers that keep rain out.B2

    “The waterproofs went on at the car park and stayed on.”

waterproofs is clothing.

Where it comes from

waterproof comes from water + -proof. Compare West Frisian wetterproef (“waterproof”), Dutch waterproef (“waterproof”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Camping & Outdoors

Practise this word

waterproofs in the wild

  • Together, they put on their boots and waterproofs, swallowing up the miles aboard the Pen Duicks.

    Olivier de Kersauson

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.