COIGN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Coign

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noun

Coign n.

A var. spelling of Coin, Quoin, a corner, wedge; chiefly used in the phrase coign of vantage, a position advantageous for action or observation. "From some shielded nook or coign of vantage." "The lithosphere would be depressed on four faces;... the four projecting coigns would stand up as continents."

An expandable metal or wooden wedge used by printers to lock up a form within a chase.

Synonyms: quoin, coigne.

The keystone of an arch.

Synonyms: quoin, coigne.

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Etymology of 'Coign'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Coign" Quotes from Famous Books

... Duesseldorf in time for the performance, which was admirable, in spite of Barty. From his coign of vantage, amongst the second tenors, he could see Julia's head with its golden fleece; Julia, that rose ...

— The Martian • George Du Maurier

... own fascinating propinquity. Whether she stopped to take a nail from between her pretty lips when she spoke to him, or whether holding on perilously with one hand to the trellis while she gesticulated with the hammer, pointing out the divisions of the plantation from her coign of vantage, he thought she was as clear and convincing to his intellect as she was distracting ...

— Sally Dows and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... its armor against the assaults of the wind, this snow had neglected no coign of vantage. Snow pursued by the wind is not wholly unlike a retreating army. In the open field it ranges itself in ranks and battalions; where it can get a foothold it makes a stand; where it can take cover it does ...

— Can Such Things Be? • Ambrose Bierce

Words linked to "Coign" : wedge, key, headstone, quoin