coast

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English[edit]

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Etymology[edit]

From Middle English and Old French coste, from Latin costa (“edge”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

coast (plural coasts)

  1. (obsolete) The side or edge of something. [15th-18th c.]
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Isaac Newton to this entry?)
  2. 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.
  3. (obsolete) A region of land; a district or country. [14th-17th c.]
    • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:
      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 […]
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy, 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
      , II.ii.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.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iii:
      the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell […]

Hypernyms[edit]

  • (edge of land meeting an ocean, sea, gulf, or bay): shore, shoreline

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from coast

Related terms[edit]

Terms related to coast

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (intransitive) To glide along without adding energy.
    When I ran out of gas, fortunately I managed to coast into a nearby gas station.
  2. (intransitive, nautical) To sail along a coast.
    • Arbuthnot
      The ancients coasted only in their navigation.
  3. Applied to human behavior, to make a minimal effort, to continue to do something in a routine way. This implies lack of initiative and effort.
  4. (obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.
    • Shakespeare
      Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Hakluyt to this entry?)
  5. (obsolete) To sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.
    • Sir Thomas Browne
      Nearchus, […] not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore.
  6. (obsolete) To conduct along a coast or river bank.
    • Hakluyt
      The Indians […] coasted me along the river.
  7. (US, dialect) To slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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