coil English · revision 39969

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kɔɪl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|spiral, loop}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1611, Cotgrave|origins=la colligō}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Most dictionaries take it as [[bor|frm|coillir|t=to gather, collect, pick]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986)^(Klein 1966) now [[m|fr|cueillir]],^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) [[inh|la|colligō|t=to gather together]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002)^(Ayto 2005) the source of [[collect]] and, through French, of [[cull]].^(Ayto 2005)^(Klein 1966) The Latin verb is formed from [[m|la|com-|t=together]] and [[m|la|legō|t=to gather]], from [[ine-pro|*leg-|t=to collect, gather]].^(Etymonline) The OED notes that the verb and the noun are not traced beyond 1611, though as sailors' words they were probably spoken much earlier, and that Littré records the French verb as a nautical term for laying a rope in rings; it compares [[m|pt|colher]], used of coiling a cable.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) The American Heritage Dictionary calls the French origin probable,^(AHD 2024) and Dictionary.com takes the word as perhaps a variant of ''cull''.^(Dictionary.com 2016) The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the early 12th century, already meant to gather together and to gather up.^(AND)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To lay up a rope or cable in rings: the first record is in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary (1611).^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The Shorter Oxford dates the verb to the early 16th century,^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) and a much older verb ''coil'', to select or choose, borrowed from the same French verb, is recorded from 1399 to 1721.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ayto suggests that the general French sense "to gather" was narrowed in nautical use to gathering up a rope in loops.^(Ayto 2005) The noun, a length of rope or cable laid in rings, is recorded from 1627, in John Smith's ''Sea Grammar'',^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) and the general sense of a series of rings into which something pliant is wound from 1661, in Boyle.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) From 1664 the verb was also used of twisting something, or oneself, into a spiral,^(OED 2026) and since 1798, in Coleridge, of a snake or the like forming coils.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The 19th century added technical senses: a spiral of pipes (1823), a wire carrying an electric current (1849), and in gun-making a bar of iron wound into a tube (1859).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In the 20th century a ''coil'' was also a roll of postage stamps (1908), a contraceptive device placed in the womb (1931) and a mosquito coil (1963).^(OED 2026) In Oxfordshire and East Anglia a ''coil'' of teal was a flock of them, and in Scotland the verb meant to ensnare;^(Wright 1898) northern dialects also had ''coil'' for a haycock, of uncertain origin, perhaps the same French verb.^(OED 2026)^(Wright 1898)^(Weekley 1921) In Rastafarian and Caribbean slang a ''coil'' is money.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1399 – ''coil'', to select (obsolete by 1721).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1611 – to lay up a rope in rings.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1627 – noun, a length of rope laid in rings.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1661 – a series of rings or spirals.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1664 – reflexive, to twist oneself into a coil.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1798 – intransitive, to form coils.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1805 – a single turn of a coiled thing, especially of a snake.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1849 – a wire coil carrying an electric current.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1908 – a roll of postage stamps.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1931 – an intrauterine contraceptive device.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A series of [[loop|alt=loops]] or a [[spiral]] into which something long and flexible is wound: ''a coil of garden hose''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A single turn of such a series, especially of a [[snake]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A [[wire]] wound in a spiral to carry an electric current and produce [[inductance]] or a [[magnetic field]], as in an [[ignition]] system.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A spiral of pipes, as in a heater or condenser.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # An [[intrauterine device]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A roll of postage stamps for a vending machine.^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To wind something into loops or a spiral: ''The deckhand coiled the line neatly on the dock.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # To form loops, or to move in a winding course: ''The path coiled up the hillside.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # To wrap around something in coils.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coiler]]

+ * [[uncoil]]

+ * [[coilable]]

+ * [[supercoil]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|turmoil, fuss}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=1567}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun meaning turmoil is of unknown origin.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010) The OED thinks it was probably a colloquial or even slang word that rose into literary use, like [[pother]], [[rumpus]] and [[hubbub]], and rejects suggested Gaelic sources.^(OED 2026) Weekley and Klein derived it from [[fro|acueil|t=encounter, collision]], from [[m|fro|acueillir]], with the loss of the first vowel;^(Weekley 1921)^(Klein 1966) Johnson had compared German.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Noisy disturbance, turmoil: 1567, in Drant's translation of Horace.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word spread in the late 16th century to a confused din of things (1582) and to fuss or ado (1599);^(OED 2026) ''to keep a coil'', to make a fuss, is recorded from 1568.^(OED 2026) Shakespeare used it several times, and Johnson (1755) quoted ''The Tempest'' for "tumult; turmoil; bustle".^(Johnson 1755) Hamlet's "this mortal coil" (1604), the turmoil of mortal life, became a current phrase;^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) Hoad and Weekley note that the word is now archaic except in that phrase.^(Hoad 1986)^(Weekley 1921) In Scots and northern English dialect it was still used for a stir or fuss in the 19th century.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1567 – noisy disturbance, turmoil.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1568 – ''to keep a coil'', to make a fuss.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1582 – a confused noise of things.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1599 – fuss, ado.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1604 – ''mortal coil'', in Shakespeare's ''Hamlet''.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # (archaic) A noisy [[disturbance]]; [[turmoil]] or [[fuss]].^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''this mortal coil'': the troubles of mortal life, or life itself.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[collect]]

+ * [[cull]]

+ * [[recoil]]

+ * [[spiral]]

+ * [[turmoil]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}