A
boilersuit is a loose fitting garment covering the whole body except for the head, hands and feet. The 1989 edition of the
Oxford English Dictionary lists the word
boilersuit first on 28 October 1928 in the
Sunday Express newspaper. The garment is also known as
coveralls in North America, or as an
overall (or "overalls") elsewhere, especially in the UK; in North America "overall" is more usually understood as a
bib-and-brace overall, which is a type of trousers with attached suspenders. A more tight-fitting garment that is otherwise similar to a boilersuit is usually called a
jumpsuit. The "
siren suit" favoured by
Winston Churchill (but also worn by many others in the UK when air raids were a threat) during the
Second World War was closely similar to a boilersuit.