coy

comparative coyer · superlative coyest

1. datedBashful, shy, retiring.
2. archaicQuiet, reserved, modest.
3. Reluctant to give details about something sensitive; notably prudish.
4. Pretending shyness or modesty, especially in an insincere or flirtatious way.

   The ill-bred miss, the bird-brained Jill, / May simper and be coy at will; / A lady, sir, as you will find, / Keeps counsel, or she speaks her mind, / Means what she says and scorns to fence / And palter with feigned innocence.

   1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers

5. Soft, gentle, hesitating.

   Enforced hate, / Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee.

   1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC

present singular third person coys · participle present coying · participle past coyed · past coyed

1. obsoletetransitiveTo caress, pet; to coax, entice.

   Come sit thee down upon this flowery bed, / While I thy amiable cheeks do coy.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

2. obsoletetransitiveTo calm or soothe.
3. obsoletetransitiveTo allure; to decoy.

   For now there are ſprung up a wiſer generation in this kind, who have the Art to coy the fonder ſort into their nets

   1635, Edward Rainbowe, Labour Forbidden, and Commanded. A Sermon Preached at S^(t.) Pauls^([sic]) Church, September 28. 1634., London: Nicholas Vavasour, page 29

plural coys

1. A trap from which waterfowl may be hunted.

plural coys

1. governmentA company

plural Coys · alternative Coye

1. A surname.
2. An unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.