coup

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A brilliantly executed stratagem; a triumph.
2. n. A coup d'état.
3. n. A sudden appropriation of leadership or power; a takeover: a boardroom coup.
4. n. Among certain Native American peoples, a feat of bravery performed in battle, especially the touching of an enemy's body without causing injury.
5. idiom. count coup Among certain Native American peoples, to ceremoniously recount one's exploits in battle.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To cut; slash: in the extracts, with reference to shoes ornamentally slashed.
2. To upset; overturn; tilt over; turn upside down; dump: as, to coup the cart.
3. To die.
4. To give or exchange blows; fight.
5. To upset; be overturned; fall or tumble over.
6. To swoop.
7. n. A blow; a stroke.
8. n. A trick; a snare.
9. n. The act of upsetting or overturning, or state of being overturned; the act of dumping.
10. n. A tumble; a fall.
11. n. A fault in a seam of coal.
12. n. A cart-load.
13. To barter; buy and sell, as horses or cattle.
14. n. An obsolete or dialectal (Scotch) form of cup.
15. n. A stroke or blow, especially a sudden stroke, implying promptness and force: a French word used in English in various French phrases, or singly, with conscious reference to its French use.
16. n. Specifically, with reference to the north western tribes of the Indians of North America, a stroke that captures the weapon or horse of an enemy; hence, victory over an enemy.
17. n. A coup d'état; a stroke of policy. See below.
18. n. Specifically— Milit., that talent for rapid observation and generalization by which an officer is enabled by a glance to estimate the advantages and disadvantages of a field of battle for attack and defense, and thus to post his troops without delay so as to make the most of it.
19. n. A stroke; a brilliant play; in banking games the decision of all the bets by one event.

Wiktionary

1. n. A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act; a triumph.
2. n. A coup d'état.
3. n. By extension, a takeover of one group by another.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A sudden stroke delivered with promptness and force; -- used also in various ways to convey the idea of an unexpected, clever, and successful tactic or stratagem.
2. n. Cant A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal at rouge et noir.
3. n. Among some tribes of North American Indians especially of the Great Plains, the act of striking or touching an enemy in warfare with the hand or at close quarters, as with a short stick, in such a manner as by custom to entitle the doer to count the deed an act of bravery; hence, any of various other deeds recognized by custom as acts of bravery or honor.
4. v. To make a coup.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a brilliant and notable success
2. n. a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force