COIL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Coil

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/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."

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Etymology of 'Coil'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Coil" Quotes from Famous Books

... of a large tree which overhung the ravine, for the purpose of letting myself down into the water, as the sides were precipitous; when under my hand, as the branch yielded to the weight of my body, a large liffa, the worst kind of serpent this country produces, rose from its coil as if in the very act of striking. I was horror-struck, and deprived for a moment of all recollection—the branch slipped from my hand, and I tumbled headlong into the water beneath; this shock, however, revived me, and with three strokes of my arms I reached the opposite bank, which with difficulty ...

— Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa • Mungo Park

... professor and Mr Burne stood chilled to the heart, for they could see the head of an ugly grey coarsely scaled viper raised above its coil, and gazing at them threateningly, after having been evidently alarmed by the noise ...

— Yussuf the Guide - The Mountain Bandits; Strange Adventure in Asia Minor • George Manville Fenn

... to be a suspicious character, I authorize you to make him prisoner and bring him over with you. Knock him down if he attempt resistance. You may as well take a pair of handcuffs with you and a short coil of rope. The object of the rope is, that if you capture any one on your way to the village you had better handcuff him, gag him, and tie him up securely to a tree or some other object at a distance ...

— One of the 28th • G. A. Henty

... the head of the grave was vacant, and for a long moment the ceremony halted as if waiting for a manifestation. With a swift, sudden startle the coil of black cord, always reserved for the chief mourner, slipped off the coffin-lid and fell heavily into ...

— Bog-Myrtle and Peat - Tales Chiefly Of Galloway Gathered From The Years 1889 To 1895 • S.R. Crockett

... have tilted them, a sharp turning of the page may reveal heaven knows what horrors; presently comes a black gap with a vault of dusty silence below. A pause, an incoherency, a repetition! She has encountered some difficulty, some slumbering coil of sharps and flats, and it raises its bristling front in her way.... She has fled back to the opening again. I begin to wonder what unhappy musician lies hidden in this new ruin, behind the bars of this ...

— Select Conversations with an Uncle • H. G. Wells

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