Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A woman who regularly makes romantic or sexual overtures; a flirt.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A woman who endeavors to gain the admiration of men; a vain, selfish, trifling woman, who endeavors to attract admiration and advances in love, for the gratification of her vanity; a flirt; a jilt.
  • noun plural A group of crested humming-birds, of the genus Lophornis (which see).
  • Coquettish; like a coquette.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A vain, trifling woman, who endeavors to attract admiration from a desire to gratify vanity; a flirt; -- formerly sometimes applied also to men.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A tropical humming bird of the genus Lophornis, with very elegant neck plumes. Several species are known. See Illustration under Spangle, v. t.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A woman who flirts or plays with men's affections.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men
  • verb talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, feminine of coquet, flirtatious man; see coquet.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French coquette.

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Examples

  • The term coquette, which we have bor - rowed from the French, is our modern name for her who, in the

    Biographia dramatica, or, A companion to the playhouse: 1782

  • The word coquette does not come up to the mark; that of downright flirt seems to me to answer the purpose pretty well, and I can make use of it to tell you honestly what she is.

    Monsieur De Pourceaugnac 1622-1673 Moli��re 1647

  • The wife is an old coquette, that is always hankering after the diversions of the town; the husband a morose rustick, that frowns and frets at the name of it.

    The Coverley Papers Various

  • I have heard ladies call her coquette, not understanding that she shone softly upon all who entered the lists because, with the rarest intuition, she foresaw that they must go away broken men and already sympathised with their dear wounds.

    The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington gardens 1898

  • I have been called a coquette, my prince; it is time to bind myself in marriage bonds, and show the world that love can make an honest woman of me.

    Frederick the Great and His Family Chapman Coleman 1843

  • And she was the worst kind of coquette -- teasing him, arousing him, putting her mouth on him, sucking him off, saying, "That's not sex," then going away.

    Beard 2010

  • From this day you must learn to embrace all manner of millinery or else relinquish your "coquette" sobriquet.

    How about that Prada turban? 2007

  • Nice person, actually a "coquette" is a flirt and a person's dress or weight really doesn't affect a person's staus as a coquette.

    In which I impress the Americans by ordering animal parts they would prefer I didn’t translate 2006

  • The fanzine thing is almost done - it will be out on Saturday for sure, it's called "coquette" ... do you know what that means?

    withkerth Diary Entry withkerth 2002

  • One of the dances was an old-fashioned cotillon, and one of the figures, the "coquette," brought every one, in turn, before me.

    Stories by American Authors, Volume 1 Various

Comments

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  • a type of hummingbird - how apt

    June 4, 2011

  • Hummingbirds have some of the best names ever.

    June 4, 2011