Jacket. A short coat or body garment; any garment for the body coming not lower than the hips. In the United States a waist coat or vest. A lady's sacque is also sometimes called a jacket. Jackets for boys throughout the first half of the nineteenth century came only to the waist, whether buttoned up or left open in front, and a similar garment, called a "waist," is still worn by men in certain trades or occupations. Short outer garments designed for protection from the weather and worn by men of rough occupations are called jackets; as a monkey jacket, zouave jacket, cardigan jacket, smoking jacket.