coign of vantage

English

Alternative forms

• coigne of vantage

Noun

coign of vantage (plural coigns of vantage)

1. a good position for observation, judgment, criticism, action, etc.
   • 1884, Robert Kennaway Douglas, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., s.v. "Nanking":

     From the eaves of the several stories there hung one hundred and fifty-two bells, and countless lanterns adorned the same coignes of vantage.