coast English · revision 2811

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1125|origins=la costa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /kəʊst/, US /koʊst/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|coste]], cost,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|coste|t=rib, side, flank; slope; coast, shore]] (modern côte),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|costa|t=rib, side]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which in Medieval Latin also meant “shore”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Barnhart and Merriam-Webster relate it to Old Church Slavonic kostĭ “bone”,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) but de Vaan, cited by Etymonline, calls it an isolated word without etymology.^(Etymonline) The verb is partly from the noun and partly from Old French costeier.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A rib, as part of the side of the body: probably about 1125,^(Barnhart 1988) the early 12th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The seashore is from before 1338, in Mannyng's ''Chronicle of England'',^(Barnhart 1988) and “coast of the sea” from about 1330 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Latin costa came to mean the side of the land, and also the side of a hill, in the Romance languages, as in Spanish cuesta “slope” and costa “coast”;^(Etymonline) only the Germanic languages that borrowed it, such as Dutch kust and German Küste, specialized it fully as “shore”.^(Etymonline) In English the sense “rib, side of the body” lasted until about the start of the 19th century,^(Cresswell 2021) and in Middle English a coast was also a region or a side.^(Hoad 1986) The phrase ''the coast is clear'', from the 16th century, pictures landing on a shore unguarded by enemies.^(Etymonline) The verb meant “to keep by the side of, skirt” from the late 14th century^(Etymonline) (about 1390, in ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'').^(Barnhart 1988) From the French sense “hillside” came the American use “to slide down a slope on a sled”, from 1775 or 1836,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) then to freewheel downhill on a bicycle (1879), to move without engine power (1896),^(Etymonline) and figuratively to achieve something without effort (1934).^(Barnhart 1988) ''Coastline'' is from 1860 and ''Coast Guard'' from 1833.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1125 – a rib.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1338 – the seashore.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1390 – verb, to skirt.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 16th century – ''the coast is clear''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1775 – verb, to sled downhill.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1833 – ''Coast Guard''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1879 – verb, to freewheel on a bicycle.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1934 – verb, to succeed without effort.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The land next to the sea; the [[shore]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A slide down a slope, as on a [[sled]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To move without power, using [[momentum]] or gravity, as a car or bicycle going downhill.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To make progress without effort.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ # To sail along a coast.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coastal]]

+ * [[coastwise]]

+ * [[coaster]]

+ * [[coastland]]

+ * [[coastline]]

+ * [[coast-to-coast]]

+ * [[coastward]]

+ * [[seacoast]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[coast guard]]

+ * [[cutlet]]

+ * [[accost]]

+ * [[costal]]

+ * [[intercostal]]

+ * [[Costa Rica]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}