coach
UK /kəʊtʃ/ · US /koʊt͡ʃ/ noun, verb, adverb
Forms coaches coaching coached
- noun A wheeled vehicle, generally pulled by a horse.
- noun (rail transport, UK, Australia) A passenger car, either drawn by a locomotive or part of a multiple unit.
- noun (originally Oxford University slang) A trainer or instructor. “football coach”
- noun (UK, Australia) A long-distance, or privately hired, bus.
- noun (nautical) The forward part of the cabin space under the poop deck of a sailing ship; the fore-cabin under the quarter deck.
- noun (chiefly US) The part of a commercial passenger airplane or train reserved for those paying the lower standard fares; the economy section. “We couldn't afford the good tickets, so we spent the flight crammed in coach.”
- noun (chiefly US) The lower-fare service whose passengers sit in this part of the airplane or train; economy class.
- verb (intransitive, sports) To train.
- verb (transitive) To instruct; to train. “She has coached many opera stars.”
- verb (intransitive) To study under a tutor.
- verb (intransitive) To travel in a coach (sometimes coach it).
- verb (transitive) To convey in a coach.
- adverb (chiefly US) Via the part of a commercial passenger airplane or train reserved for those paying the lower standard fares; via the economy section. “John flew coach to Vienna, but first-class back home.”
Synonyms
carriage manager handler private instructor tutor passenger car four-in-hand coach-and-four bus autobus charabanc double-decker jitney motorbus motorcoach omnibus passenger vehicle train
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French coche, from German Kutsche, from Hungarian kocsi. According to historians, the coach was named after the small Hungarian town of Kocs, which made a livelihood from cart building and transport between Vienna and Budapest.
The meaning “instructor/trainer” is from Oxford University slang (c. 1830) for a “tutor” who “carries” one through an exam; the athletic sense is from 1861.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large, closed, four-wheeled carriage, having doors in the sides, and generally a front and back seat inside, each for two persons, and an elevated outside seat in front for the driver.
- noun A special tutor who assists in preparing a student for examination; a trainer; esp. one who trains a boat's crew for a race.
- verb To convey in a coach. Pope.
- verb To prepare for public examination by private instruction; to train by special instruction. [Colloq.]
Etymology [F. coche, fr. It. cocchio, dim. of cocca little boat, fr. L. concha mussel, mussel shell, Gr. çankha. Cf. Conch, Cockboat, Cockle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “coach”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details