Word Meanings - COUP - Book Publishers vocabulary database

A sudden stroke; an unexpected device or stratagem; -- a term used in various ways to convey the idea of promptness and force. Coup de grace (ke gr Etym: , the stroke of mercy with which an executioner ends by death the sufferings of the condemned;

Additional info about word: COUP

A sudden stroke; an unexpected device or stratagem; -- a term used in various ways to convey the idea of promptness and force. Coup de grace (ke gr Etym: , the stroke of mercy with which an executioner ends by death the sufferings of the condemned; hence, a decisive, finishing stroke. -- Coup de main , a sudden and unexpected movement or attack. -- Coup de soleil , a sunstroke. See Sunstroke. -- Coup d'état , a sudden, decisive exercise of power whereby the existing government is subverted without the consent of the people; an unexpected measure of state, more or less violent; a stroke of policy. -- Coup d'oeil A single view; a rapid glance of the eye; a comprehensive view of a scene; as much as can be seen at one view. The general effect of a picture. The faculty or the act of comprehending at a glance the weakness or strength of a military position, of a certain arrangement of troops, the most advantageous position for a battlefield, etc.

Related words: (words related to COUP)

• MERCY
  mercedis, hire, pay, reward, LL., equiv. to misericordia pity, mercy. L. merces is probmerere to deserve, acquire. See Merit, and cf. 1. Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict
• STROKER
  One who strokes; also, one who pretends to cure by stroking. Cures worked by Greatrix the stroker. Bp. Warburton.
• FORCE
  To stuff; to lard; to farce. Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit. Shak.
• DEATHLIKE
  1. Resembling death. A deathlike slumber, and a dead repose. Pope. 2. Deadly. "Deathlike dragons." Shak.
• UNEXPECTATION
  Absence of expectation; want of foresight. Bp. Hall.
• DEATHLY
  Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
• DEATHLINESS
  The quality of being deathly; deadliness. Southey.
• GRACE
  The divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor. And if by grace, then is it no more of
• UNEXPECTED
  Not expected; coming without warning; sudden. -- Un`ex*pect"ed*ly, adv. -- Un`ex*pect"ed*ness, n.
• GRACEFUL
  Displaying grace or beauty in form or action; elegant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech. High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode. Dryden. -- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.
• CONDEMNER
  One who condemns or censures.
• GRACELESS
  1. Wanting in grace or excellence; departed from, or deprived of, divine grace; hence, depraved; corrupt. "In a graceless age." Milton. 2. Unfortunate. Cf. Grace, n., 4. Chaucer. -- Grace"less*ly, adv. -- Grace"less-ness, n.
• DEATHWATCH
  A small beetle . By forcibly striking its head against woodwork it makes a ticking sound, which is a call of the sexes to each other, but has been imagined by superstitious people to presage death. A small wingless insect, of the family Psocidæ,
• CONVEYER
  1. One who, or that which, conveys or carries, transmits or transfers. 2. One given to artifices or secret practices; a juggler; a cheat; a thief. Shak.
• WHICHEVER; WHICHSOEVER
  Whether one or another; whether one or the other; which; that one which; as, whichever road you take, it will lead you to town.
• FORCEPS
  The caudal forceps-shaped appendage of earwigs and some other insects. See Earwig. Dressing forceps. See under Dressing. (more info) 1. A pair of pinchers, or tongs; an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon, bodies
• DEVICEFUL
  Full of devices; inventive. A carpet, rich, and of deviceful thread. Chapman.
• EXECUTIONER
  1. One who executes; an executer. Bacon. 2. One who puts to death in conformity to legal warrant, as a hangman.
• CONDEMNED
  1. Pronounced to be wrong, guilty, worthless, or forfeited; adjudged or sentenced to punishment, destruction, or confiscation. 2. Used for condemned persons. Richard Savage . . . had lain with fifty pounds weight of irons on his legs
• FORCEFUL
  Full of or processing force; exerting force; mighty. -- Force"ful*ly, adv. Against the steed he threw His forceful spear. Dryden.
• GRAMERCY
  A word formerly used to express thankfulness, with surprise; many thanks. Gramercy, Mammon, said the gentle knight. Spenser.
• REINFORCEMENT
  See REëNFORCEMENT
• DEFORCEOR
  See DEFORCIANT
• RECONVEY
  1. To convey back or to the former place; as, to reconvey goods. 2. To transfer back to a former owner; as, to reconvey an estate.
• PRECONDEMN
  To condemn beforehand. -- Pre*con`dem*na"tion, n.
• CRAWL STROKE
  A racing stroke, in which the swimmer, lying flat on the water with face submerged, takes alternate overhand arm strokes while moving his legs up and down alternately from the knee.
• POINT-DEVICE; POINT-DEVISE
  Uncommonly nice and exact; precise; particular. You are rather point-devise in your accouterments. Shak. Thus he grew up, in logic point-devise, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice. Longfellow. (more info) + point point, condition + devis
• AGGRACE
  To favor; to grace. "That knight so much aggraced." Spenser.
• DEFORCE
  To keep from the rightful owner; to withhold wrongfully the possession of, as of lands or a freehold. To resist the execution of the law; to oppose by force, as an officer in the execution of his duty. Burrill.