Coy
adj, name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A trap from which waterfowl may be hunted.
- 2 A company
- 1 To caress, pet; to coax, entice. obsolete, transitive
"Come sit thee down upon this flowery bed, / While I thy amiable cheeks do coy."
- 2 To calm or soothe. obsolete, transitive
- 3 To allure; to decoy. obsolete, transitive
"For now there are ſprung up a wiſer generation in this kind, who have the Art to coy the fonder ſort into their nets"
- 1 Bashful, shy, retiring. dated
- 2 Quiet, reserved, modest. archaic
- 3 Reluctant to give details about something sensitive; notably prudish.
- 4 Pretending shyness or modesty, especially in an insincere or flirtatious way.
"The ill-bred miss, the bird-brained Jill, / May simper and be coy at will; / A lady, sir, as you will find, / Keeps counsel, or she speaks her mind, / Means what she says and scorns to fence / And palter with feigned innocence."
- 5 Soft, gentle, hesitating.
"Enforced hate, / Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee."
- 1 modestly or warily rejecting approaches or overtures wordnet
- 2 showing marked and often playful or irritating evasiveness or reluctance to make a definite or committing statement wordnet
- 3 affectedly modest or shy especially in a playful or provocative way wordnet
- 1 A surname.
- 2 An unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.
Example
More examples"The president remained coy about his plans."
Etymology
From Middle English coy, from Old French coi, earlier quei (“quiet, still”), from Latin qu(i)ētus (“resting, at rest”). Doublet of quit, quiet, quite, and quietus.
Compare decoy.
Abbreviation of company.
The community is named after local merchant George McCoy.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.