coup
See also: Coup
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French coup (“blow, strike”), from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of colpus.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kuː/
Audio (UK) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /kʊu/
- Rhymes: -uː
- Homophone: coo
Noun
coup (plural coups)
- A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
- Synonym: triumph
- 2000, P. E. Bryden, The Ontario-Quebec Axis: Postwar Strategies in Intergovernmental Negotiations, Edgar-André Montigny, Anne Lorene Chambers (editors), Ontario Since Confederation: A Reader, page 399,
- The conference was a major coup for Robarts, who received congratulations for his 'expert handling' of the 'risky venture.'
- 2004, Charles R. Geisst, Wall Street: A History, page 116,
- While the price was considered a coup for Morgan, enhancing his reputation on Wall Street, Carnegie had a different explanation for his selling price.
- 2005, Laryce Henderson Rybka, Legacy of the Lamp, page 252,
- " […] It was quite a coup for Pullen Park to get it. It had been in storage for awhile, and several parks in other places wanted to purchase it."
- 2014, Jamie Jackson, "Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real", The Guardian, 26 August 2014:
- Yet the capture of Di María, who was the man of the match when Real won a 10th Champions League in May, represents something a coup for United considering the club are not in Europe’s premier club competition and need to strengthen their squad after the team have let five points slip from the first two matches.
- 2020 November 15, Yen Nee Lee, ‘A coup for China’: Analysts react to the world’s largest trade deal that excludes the U.S., CNBC:
- The diplomatic messaging of RCEP may be just as important as the economics—a coup for China.
- 2022 April 30, Biden, Joe, President Biden complete remarks at 2022 White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN), Washington, D.C.: C-SPAN, archived from the original on 01 May 2022, 1:02 from the start:
- Just imagine if my predecessor came to this dinner this year. Now that would really have been a real coup if that occurred. [audience gasps] Little tough, huh?
- (US, historical, of Native Americans) A blow against an enemy delivered in a way that shows bravery.
- 1892, George Bird Grinnell, “The Blackfoot in War”, in Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 248:
- Among the Blackfeet the capture of a shield, bow, gun, war bonnet, war shirt, or medicine pipe was deemed a coup.
- 2007, James Mooney, George Bird Grinnell, Edmund Nequatewa, Native American Ways: Four Paths to Enlightenment, page 316,
- Thus, for a horseman to ride over and knock down an enemy, who was on foot, was regarded among the Blackfeet as a coup, for the horseman might be shot at close quarters, or might receive a lance thrust.
-
- A coup d'état.
- Synonym: putsch
- 1985, Christopher S. Clapham, Third World Politics: An Introduction, page 137,
- Military coups and the military regimes which follow from them are so much a feature of third world politics that their presence or absence in any given region might almost be taken as a rough and ready touchstone of third worldliness.
- 2003, April A. Gordon, Nigeria's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook, page 130,
- It was the military's discontent with what was happening in the country and in the military that led to the first military coup in January 1966. The First Republic was brought to an ignoble end and replaced with a military government.
- 2013 August 23, Jonathan Steele, “The west has little influence in Egypt”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 11, page 18:
- The coup was well-planned. Fuel was artificially held back so as to create shortages and dissatisfaction with Brotherhood rule. The old state-controlled unions mounted public sector strikes that further sabotaged the economy and annoyed people. Police-controlled thugs who had been used against the Tahrir Square demonstrations in 2011 came back into action.
- (by extension) A takeover of one group by another.
- 2022 October 4, “Truss government in chaos amid budget confusion and coup accusations”, in The Guardian:
- Liz Truss’s government is in chaos after the chancellor refused to confirm he would bring forward his budget to calm the markets and the home secretary accused fellow MPs of a coup against the prime minister. […] Backbenchers also expressed outrage at [Suella] Braverman’s suggestion of a “coup” against Truss.
-
- A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.
- (bridge) One of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks, such as the Bath coup.
Derived terms
- colonels' coup
- count coup (US, historical)
- coupism
- coupist
- coup stick (US, historical)
- generals' coup
- palace coup
- self-coup
- soft coup
Related terms
- coup d'arret
- coup de foudre
- coup de grâce
- coup de main
- coup d'état
- coup de théâtre
- coup d'oeil
- en coup de sabre
Translations
quick, brilliant, and highly successful act; triumph
|
coup d'état — see coup d'état
takeover of one group by another
|
Verb
coup (third-person singular simple present coups, present participle couping, simple past and past participle couped)
- (intransitive) To make a coup.
- 1895, Frederic Remington, “Lieutenant Casey’s Last Scout”, in Pony Tracks, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 48:
- The squaws of another race will sing the death-song of their benefactor, and woe to the Sioux if the Northern Cheyennes get a chance to coup !
-
See also
- touché (acknowledgement of a successful hit)
Anagrams
- Cupo
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from French coup, from Middle French [Term?], from Old French colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus, from Ancient Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (chiefly Netherlands) /kup/, (chiefly Belgium) /ku/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: coup
- Rhymes: -up, -u
- Homophones: koe, coupe
Noun
coup m (plural coups, diminutive coupje n)
- A coup, a coup d'état, a putsch.
- Synonyms: putsch, staatsgreep
- A coup, a quick, surprising, brilliant move or action.
Derived terms
- contracoup
- couppleger
- tegencoup
Descendants
- → Indonesian: kup
French
Etymology
From Old French colp, cop, from Late Latin colpus, syncopated form of Latin colaphus, from Ancient Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ku/
audio (file) - Homophones: cou, coud, couds, coups, cous, coût, coûts
- Rhymes: -u
Noun
coup m (plural coups)
- blow, hit, strike
- sound of the action
- coup de tonnerre ― crash of thunder
- physical consequences of the action (marks)
- marqué de coups ― scratched
- sound of the action
- (by extension) fast and instantaneous action
- jeter un coup d'œil ― to have a look
- boire un coup ― to have a drink
- (firearms) load, shot
- pistolet à six coups ― six-shot pistol
- bit (small quantity)
- mettre un coup de peinture ― to paint (literally, “to put a stroke of paint”)
- planned action
- préparer son coup ― to make preparations
- (slang) lay
- Cette meuf, c'était le meilleur coup de ma vie.
- This bird was the best shag of my life.
- un bon coup ― a good lay
- 2020 March 1, Maïa Mazaurette, “Peut-on encore être un bon coup ?”, in Le Monde:
- Qu’est-ce qu’un bon coup ? Cette question renvoie, sur Google, à 236 000 résultats. Elle est cinq fois plus populaire que « qu’est-ce qu’un bon citoyen ? ». Quand la demande de performance sexuelle se révèle plus forte que la performance républicaine, assiste-t-on à la chute d’une civilisation ?
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
Derived terms
- accuser le coup
- à coup de
- à coups de
- à coup sûr
- après coup
- à tous les coups
- coup bas
- coup dans le nez
- coup de barre
- coup de blues
- coup de bol
- coup de boule
- coup de bourre
- coup de chance
- coup de circuit
- coup d'éclat
- coup de cœur
- coup de coin
- coup de dent
- coup de dents
- coup de feu
- coup de fil
- coup de filet
- coup de force
- coup de foudre
- coup de fouet
- coup de fusil
- coup de génie
- coup de glotte
- coup de grâce
- coup de grisou
- coup de gueule
- coup de jeune
- coup de langue
- coup de l'étrier
- coup de main
- coup de maître
- coup de mou
- coup d'envoi
- coup d'épée dans l'eau
- coup de pied
- coup de poing
- coup de pompe
- coup de pot
- coup de pouce
- coup de pute
- coup de sang
- coup de semonce
- coup de sifflet final
- coup de soleil
- coup d'essai
- coup d'État
- coup de téléphone
- coup de tête
- coup de théâtre
- coup de vieux
- coup d'œil
- coup droit
- coup du chapeau
- coup du lapin
- coup du lapin
- coup d'un soir
- coup du sort
- coup fourré
- coup franc
- coup monté
- coups et blessures
- coup sûr
- coup sur coup
- dans le coup
- donner un coup de balai
- douze coups de minuit
- du coup
- d'un coup
- d'un seul coup
- du premier coup
- en coup de vent
- en deux coups de cuillère à pot
- faire d'une pierre deux coups
- faire les quatre cents coups
- frapper les grands coups
- hors du coup
- marquer le coup
- par à-coups
- pour le coup
- prévoir le coup
- retenir ses coups
- rouer de coups
- sans coup férir
- sûr de son coup
- tenir le coup
- tirer un coup
- tous les coups sont permis
- tout à coup
- tout d'un coup
- un coup
Related terms
- beaucoup
- coupe
- couper
Descendants
- → Danish: kup
- → Dutch: coup
- → English: coup
- → German: Coup
- Mauritian Creole: kou
- Norwegian:
- → Norwegian Bokmål: kupp
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: kupp
- → Swedish: kupp
Further reading
- “coup”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norman
Noun
coup m (plural coups)
- Alternative form of co
Old French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔu̯p/
Noun
coup m (oblique plural cous, nominative singular cous, nominative plural coup)
- Alternative form of colp
Scots
Etymology
Perhaps related to English cope.
Verb
coup
- (transitive) To overturn.