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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

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

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Quiet; still.
  2. Manifesting modesty; shrinking from familiarity; bashful; shy; retiring.
  3. Disposed to repel advances; disdainful.
  4. Synonyms Shrinking, distant, bashful, backward, diffident, demure.
  5. To quiet; soothe.
  6. To caress with the hand; stroke caressingly.
  7. To coax; allure; entice; decoy. See decoy, v.
  8. To be coy; behave with coyness or bashfulness; shrink from familiarity: with an indefinite it.
  9. To make difficulty; be slow or reluctant.
  10. n. A stroke or noise made to coy or quiet an animal, as a horse; a soothing sound or utterance.
  11. n. A decoy. See decoy, n.
  12. n. A cage or pen for lobsters.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. bashful, shy
  2. adj. Quiet, reserved, modest.
  3. adj. Reluctant to give details about something sensitive; notably prudish.
  4. adj. Pretending shyness or modesty.
  5. adj. Soft, gentle, hesitating
  6. v. To caress, pet; to coax, entice
  7. v. To calm or soothe

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Quiet; still.
  2. adj. Shrinking from approach or familiarity; reserved; bashful; shy; modest; -- usually applied to women, sometimes with an implication of coquetry.
  3. adj. Soft; gentle; hesitating.
  4. v. To allure; to entice; to decoy.
  5. v. To caress with the hand; to stroke.
  6. v. To behave with reserve or coyness; to shrink from approach or familiarity.
  7. v. To make difficulty; to be unwilling.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. showing marked and often playful or irritating evasiveness or reluctance to make a definite or committing statement
  2. adj. modestly or warily rejecting approaches or overtures
  3. adj. affectedly modest or shy especially in a playful or provocative way

Etymologies

  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.

Examples

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  • hernesheir A Scottish name for the ball used in the game of shinty. May 10, 2011

  • madmouth The term has been simultaneously derogated and immortalized by Andrew Marvell's "To his Coy Mistress" Apr 10, 2009

  • kewpid I use this to abbreviate the word company. Oct 7, 2007

‘coy’ has been looked up 2555 times, loved by 14 people, added to 58 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.