/kəʊst/, /koʊst/
OriginFrom 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], from Old French coste (“rib; side of an object; coast”) (modern French côte (“rib; coast; hill, slope”)), from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”). Doublet of costa.
Compare typologically cape < Latin caput, ness (akin to nose), Bulgarian нос (nos, “nose; …; cape, promontory, foreland, gore”), Macedonian ’рт (’rt), Serbo-Croatian рт (“cape, promontory, headland”) < Proto-Slavic *rъtъ (whence Russian рот (rot)).
- The edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake.
“The rocky coast of Maine has few beaches.”
- obsoleteThe side or edge of something.
“And the Coaſt towards which the lines KL and VX are drawn, may be call’d the Coaſt of unuſual Refraction.”
- obsoleteA region of land; a district or country.
“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 […]”
“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.”
- obsoleteA region of the air or heavens.
“the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell […]”
- intransitiveTo 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.”
“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 throug”
“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 th”
- intransitiveTo sail along a coast.
“The Ancients coasted only in their Navigations.”
“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”
- figuratively, intransitiveTo make a minimal effort; to continue to do something in a routine way, without initiative or effort.
“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 descr”
“Rehearsal goes reasonably. Wheeler long ago swore that he would never coast through a performance, and he plays decently well. But it seems to him as if a lot of the orchestra is distracted. Some cues”
“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 sta”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.
“Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.”
“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”
- obsolete, transitiveTo sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.
“Nearchus, […] not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo conduct along a coast or river bank.
“The Indians […] coasted me a long the river.”
- Canada, US, dialectalTo slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.
- A region of British Columbia, Canada.
Formscoasts(plural) · coasts(present, singular, third-person) · coasting(participle, present) · coasted(participle, past) · coasted(past) · the Coast(canonical)
Source: Wiktionary