coast

See also: Coast

English

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kōst, IPA(key): /kəʊst/
  • (General American) enPR: kōst, IPA(key): /koʊst/
  • Audio (GA)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊst

Etymology 1

From Middle English coste (“rib; side of the body, flank; side of a building; face of a solid figure; coast, shore; bay, gulf; sea; concavity, hollow; boundary, limit; land; country; district, province, region; locality, place; division of the heavens; compass direction; direction; location with reference to direction, side”) [and other forms],[1] from Old French coste (“rib; side of an object; coast”) (modern French côte (“rib; coast; hill, slope”)), from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”),[2] from Proto-Indo-European *kost-. Doublet of costa.

Noun

coast (plural coasts)

  1. The edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake. [from 14th c.]
    The rocky coast of Maine has few beaches.
  2. (obsolete) The side or edge of something. [15th–18th c.]
    • 1730, Isaac Newton, Opticks, 4th ed., London: […] William Innys […], page 331:
      And the Coaſt towards which the lines KL and VX are drawn, may be call’d the Coaſt of unuſual Refraction.
  3. (obsolete) A region of land; a district or country. [14th–17th c.]
    • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew ij:
      Then Herod perceavynge that he was moocked off the wyse men, was excedynge wroth, and sent forth and slue all the chyldren that were in bethleem, and in all the costes thereof […]
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], chapter II, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition ii, section 3:
      P. Crescentius, in his lib. 1 de agric. cap. 5, is very copious in this subject, how a house should be wholesomely sited, in a good coast, good air, wind, etc.
  4. (obsolete) A region of the air or heavens. [14th–17th c.]
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English costeien (“to travel along a border or coast; to go alongside (something), skirt; to accompany, follow; to travel across, traverse; to be adjacent to, to border;”) [and other forms],[3] from Anglo-Norman [Term?], Old French costoier (“to be at the side of”) […] (modern French côtoyer (“to pass alongside; (figuratively) to rub shoulders”)), from Latin costicāre, from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”); see further at etymology 1.[4]

Verb

coast (third-person singular simple present coasts, present participle coasting, simple past and past participle coasted)

  1. (intransitive) To glide along without adding energy; to allow a vehicle to continue moving forward after disengaging the engine or ceasing to apply motive power.
    When I ran out of gas, fortunately I managed to coast into a nearby gas station.
    • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
      We steamed easily across the first part of the Tay Bridge, and then after passing over the long spans in mid-stream we coasted smoothly down the 1 in 114 gradient, and around the sweeping curve through Esplanade Station.
    • 2020 September 23, “Network News: AWC employs coasting to minimise disruption”, in Rail, page 26:
      Avanti West Coast has introduced the use of coasting with its Pendolino fleet, in an effort to keep disruption during overhead line equipment failures to a minimum. [...] The Class 390s coasted for three miles without power between Harrow & Wealdstone and Wembley Central, running under damaged OLE.
  2. (intransitive, nautical) To sail along a coast.
    Synonym: hug the coastline
    • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations:
      The Ancients coasted only in their Navigations.
    • 1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 14:
      The bold little ships even broke through the Gates of Hercules to the open ocean, coasting then northward to take the gold of Ireland and the tin of Cornwall, as well as southward, around the bulge of Senegal, to remote Yorubaland and the distant marts of ivory, gold, and slaves.
  3. (intransitive) To make a minimal effort; to continue to do something in a routine way, without initiative or effort.
    • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
      Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.
    • 2021 March 31, Benjamin Lee, “Made for Love review – Black Mirror-esque comedy needs an upgrade”, in The Guardian‎:
      There’s a similar “sure but what else?” vibe to Made for Love, HBO Max’s new high-concept half-hour comedy, gently coasting on its WTF setup for longer than it should, to the detriment of the main star Cristin Milioti, trying her very best to secure our attention as it slowly drifts elsewhere.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.
    • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC:
      Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
      The 25. day of the same moneth we fell with the Cape Cantin , vpon the coast of Barbarie , and coasting along , the 27. day we found an Island called Mogado
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.
  6. (transitive, obsolete) To conduct along a coast or river bank.
    • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
      The Indians […] coasted me a long the river.
  7. (US, dialect) To slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.
Translations

References
  1. “cō̆ste, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. “coast, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021; “coast, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. “cō̆steien, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. “coast, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “coast, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams
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