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Definition 2024

Coup

Coup

See also: coup

German

Noun

Coup m ‎(genitive Coups, plural Coups)

  1. coup

Declension

coup

coup

See also: Coup

English

Noun

coup ‎(plural coups)

  1. A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act; a 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.
  2. (US, historical, of Native Americans) A blow against an enemy delivered in a way that shows bravery.
    • G. B. Grinnell
      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.
  3. A coup d'état.
    • 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.
  4. (by extension) A takeover of one group by another.
  5. A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.

Synonyms

  • (coup d'état): putsch (an attempted coup, not necessarily successful)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

coup ‎(third-person singular simple present coups, present participle couping, simple past and past participle couped)

  1. (intransitive) To make a coup.
    • F. Remington
      Woe to the Sioux if the Northern Cheyennes get a chance to coup!

See also

  • touché (acknowledgement of a successful hit)

French

Etymology

From Old French colp, cop, from Vulgar Latin *colpus, syncopated form of Latin colaphus, from Ancient Greek κόλαφος ‎(kólaphos).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ku/
    Homophones: cou
  • Rhymes: -u

Noun

coup m ‎(plural coups)

  1. blow, hit, strike
    1. sound of the action
      • coup de tonnerre
    2. physical consequences of the action (marks)
      • marqué de coups
  2. fast and instantaneous action
  3. elementary action that may be repeated (e.g. in a game)
    • boire un coup
    1. for a firearm, load
      • pistolet à six coups
  4. small quantity: mettre un coup de peinture
  5. planned action
    • préparer son coup
  6. (slang) lay
    • Cette meuf, c'était le meilleur coup de ma vie.

Related terms

Derived terms

Norman

Noun

coup m ‎(plural coups)

  1. Alternative form of co

Old French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kowp/

Noun

coup m ‎(oblique plural cous, nominative singular cous, nominative plural coup)

  1. Alternative form of colp

Etymology

From French coup

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