COIL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Coil

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kɔɪl/ Listen

noun

Coil n.

A ring, series of rings, or spiral, into which a rope, or other like thing, is wound. "The wild grapevines that twisted their coils from trec to tree."

Fig.: Entanglement; toil; mesh; perplexity.

A series of connected pipes in rows or layers, as in a steam heating apparatus.

Induction coil. (Elec.) See under Induction.

Ruhmkorff's coil (Elec.), an induction coil, sometimes so called from Ruhmkorff, a prominent manufacturer of the apparatus.

Coil n. A noise, tumult, bustle, or confusion. (Obs.)

verb

Coil v. t. (past & past part. coiled; pres. part. coiling)

To wind cylindrically or spirally; as, to coil a rope when not in use; the snake coiled itself before springing.

To encircle and hold with, or as with, coils. (Obs. or R.)

Coil v. i. To wind itself cylindrically or spirally; to form a coil; to wind; often with about or around. "You can see his flery serpents... Coiting, playing in the water."

See images of 'Coil'

Etymology of 'Coil'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Coil" Quotes from Famous Books

... almost silent now, still she lingers as if to catch some faint glimpse of hoped-for results, ere she drops this mortal coil. ...

— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... shocks That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die,—to sleep,— To sleep! perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,[10] Must give us pause:[11] There's the respect[12] That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,[13] The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,[14] The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient ...

— Hamlet • William Shakespeare

... He indeed possesses that noble fortitude, which is harmless unless when provoked and molested. He is never the aggressor, and seems averse from making use of his weapons of destruction. He flies from man; but when pursued, and he finds he cannot escape, he instantly gathers himself into a coil, and prepares for self-defence. He has a sharp and sparkling eye, and quickly spies any person approaching towards him, and winds his course out of the way into some thicket or concealed place. ...

— An Historical Account Of The Rise And Progress Of The Colonies Of South Carolina And Georgia, Volume 1 • Alexander Hewatt

... Jimmy sprang for a coil of rope; Billy and the others threw themselves after him; while half a dozen men working around the small eddy in the lee of the diminutive island caught up the oars and made a dash ...

— The Veiled Lady - and Other Men and Women • F. Hopkinson Smith

... like a golden serpent, with a kind of tension which gave it life, such as Medusa's hair must have known as the serpent-life entered into it. There is—or was—in Florence a statue of Medusa, seated, in her fingers a strand of her hair, which is beginning to coil and bend and twist before her horror-stricken eyes; and this statue flashed before Jasmine's eyes as she looked at the loose ends of gold falling beyond the blue ribbon with which she had tied ...

— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

More quotes...