Coverall vs. Overall

Main Difference

The main difference between Coverall and Overall is that the Coverall is a loose-fitting protective suit and Overall is a trousers with attached bib and shoulder straps.

• Coverall

  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.

• Overall

  An overall, also called overalls, bib-and-brace overalls, or dungarees, is a type of garment which is usually used as protective clothing when working. Some people call an overall a “pair of overalls” by analogy with “pair of trousers”.

  Overalls were originally made of denim (cotton), but they can also be made of corduroy and khaki. Overalls were invented in the 1890s by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis (Levi Strauss & Co.), but they went through an evolution to reach their modern form. Initially only used for protective clothing in work settings, they have become a garment of high fashion as “potential cult items”