Diccionario ingles.comDiccionario ingles.com
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Coy   /kɔɪ/   Listen
adjective
Coy  adj.  
1.
Quiet; still. (Obs.)
2.
Shrinking from approach or familiarity; reserved; bashful; shy; modest; usually applied to women, sometimes with an implication of coquetry. "Coy, and difficult to win." "Coy and furtive graces." "Nor the coy maid, half willings to be pressed, Shall kiss the cup, to pass it to the rest."
3.
Soft; gentle; hesitating. "Enforced hate, Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee."
Synonyms: Shy; shriking; reserved; modest; bashful; backward; distant.


verb
Coy  v. t.  (past & past part. coyed; pres. part. coying)  
1.
To allure; to entice; to decoy. (Obs.) "A wiser generation, who have the art to coy the fonder sort into their nets."
2.
To caress with the hand; to stroke. "Come sit thee down upon this flowery bed, While I thy amiable cheeks do coy."


Coy  v. i.  
1.
To behave with reserve or coyness; to shrink from approach or familiarity. (Obs.) "Thus to coy it, With one who knows you too!"
2.
To make difficulty; to be unwilling. (Obs.) "If he coyed To hear Cominius speak, I 'll keep at home."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Coy" Quotes from Famous Books



... receive no further compensation in return," said John, "than, perhaps, the coy turning up of a lamp at an upper casement where the jasmine climbs; or an exasperating patter of invisible palms; or a huge dank wedge of fruit-cake shoved at you by the old man, through a crack ...
— Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley • James Whitcomb Riley
... in love with Mr. Ryde," says Monica, sweetly, with averted face and a coy air, assumed ...
— Rossmoyne • Unknown
... he had suddenly developed into a surprisingly finished scoundrel), as from a fear that his lie might after all be detected. He sat staring stupidly at Mr. Fladgate, who patted him on the shoulder with well-meant encouragement; he had never seen quite so coy an author before. 'I'm very glad to make Mr. Vincent Beauchamp's acquaintance—at last,' he said, beaming with honest pride at the success of his tactics, 'and now we can come ...
— The Giant's Robe • F. Anstey
... is courtly now, this is sweete, this plaine, this is familiar, but by the Court of France, our peevish dames are so proud, so precise, so coy, so disdainfull, and so subtill, as the Pomonian Serpent, mort dieu the Puncke of Babylon ...
— A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III • Various
... unconscious that he was the victim of a plot which his friends, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. M'Coy and Mr. Power had disclosed to Mrs. Kernan in the parlour. The idea been Mr. Power's, but its development was entrusted to Mr. Cunningham. Mr. Kernan came of Protestant stock and, though he had been converted to the Catholic faith at the time of his marriage, he had ...
— Dubliners • James Joyce


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Diccionario ingles.com