coy

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“
Ah! She was coy, and the acquaintance was to have the zest of being no lightly won friendship.

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Definitions (21)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Tending to avoid people and social situations; reserved.
  2. adjective Affectedly and usually flirtatiously shy or modest. See Synonyms at shy1.
  3. adjective Annoyingly unwilling to make a commitment.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Cyberpunk was becoming increasingly self-referential and coy, the average age of its protagonists locked in a dizzying tail-spin down towards pubescence—nothing for me there. —  InterzoneScienceFictionandFantasyMagazine#211
  • They are coy--and caressing. —  Mistress Anne
  • There's a time coming when you'll not be so coy, and when I shan't any longer kneel supplicating you. —  The Death Shot A Story Retold
  • Ah! She was coy, and the acquaintance was to have the zest of being no lightly won friendship. —  A Voice in the Wilderness
  • You must, please, please, never speak of it again Even then he wouldn't understand, but preferred to think that I was shy, nervous, coy--anything rather than simply and absolutely truthful. —  The Heart of Una Sackville
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bashful ·  coquettish ·  demure ·  shy ·  girlish ·  roguish ·  sheepish ·  alluring ·  adorable ·  winsome ·  playful ·  petulant
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French quei, coi, quiet, still, from Vulgar Latin *quētus, from Latin quiētus, past participle of quiēscere, to rest; see kweiə- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English coy, koy, from Old French coi, quoi, quei, coy, quoy, coit, quoit, quiet, still, calm, tranquil, slow (to do a thing), private, secret, modern F. coi, quiet, still, = Provencal quetz = Spanish Portuguese quedo, quieto = Italian cheto, quieto, from Latin quietus, quiet, still, calm, whence directly English quiet, which is thus a doublet of coy: see quiet, adjective
  2. from Middle English coyen, coien, from coy, adjective Cf. accoy (of which coy, v., is prob. in part an abbreviation), and see decoy, v., which is peculiarly related to coy, v.
  3. from Middle English coye; from the verb.
  4. English dial., prob. from Middle Dutch koye, Dutch kooi, a coop, cage, fold, hive, hammock, berth (cf. kouw, a cage), = English Friesic koje, kooi, a hammock, berth, also an inclosure, = Middle Low German Low German koje., a cage, stall, berth, later prob. G. koje., a berth, = Danish koje, a berth, hammock, = Swedish koja, a berth, hammock, also a cage, jail; all ult. from Latin cavea (Middle Latin cavia), a cage, whence also English cage: see cage, cave, coe.
 

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/kɔi/
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