subs. phr. (old).—A constable; a guardian of the peace: see BLUE, sub 1.
1610. ROWLANDS, Martin Mark-all, 19 [Hunterian Club’s Reprint, 1874]. And being so taken, haue beene carried to places of correction, there wofully tormented by BLEW-COATES, cowardly fellowes, that … haue so scourged vs, that flesh and blood could hardly endure it.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, II., 417. ‘I thinks them Chartists are a weak-minded set … a hundred o’ them would run away from one BLUE-COAT.’
1890. Family Herald, 8 Feb. 227. The BLUE-COATS … may turn up at any moment.
2. See BLUE, in several senses.
