coach

[ kohch ]
See synonyms for coach on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a large, horse-drawn, four-wheeled carriage, usually enclosed.

  2. a public motorbus.

  1. Railroads. day coach.

  2. Also called air coach . a class of airline travel providing less luxurious accommodations than first class at a lower fare.

  3. a person who trains an athlete or a team of athletes: a football coach.

  4. a private tutor who prepares a student for an examination.

  5. a person who instructs an actor or singer.

  6. Baseball. a playing or nonplaying member of the team at bat who is stationed in the box outside first or third base to signal instructions to and advise base runners and batters.

  7. Nautical. an after cabin in a sailing ship, located beneath the poop deck, for use especially by the commander of the ship.

  8. a type of inexpensive automobile with a boxlike, usually two-door, body manufactured in the 1920s.

verb (used with object)
  1. to give instruction or advice to in the capacity of a coach; instruct: She has coached the present tennis champion.

verb (used without object)
  1. to act as a coach.

  2. to go by or in a coach.

adverb
  1. by coach or in coach-class accommodations: We flew coach from Denver to New York.

Origin of coach

1
First recorded in 1550–60; 1840–50 for sense “tutor”; earlier coche(e), from Middle French coche, from German Kotsche, Kutsche, from Hungarian kocsi, short for kocsi szekér “cart of Kocs,” town on the main road between Vienna and Budapest; senses referring to tutoring from the conception of the tutor as one who carries the student through examinations

Other words for coach

Other words from coach

  • coach·a·ble, adjective
  • coach·a·bil·i·ty, noun
  • out·coach, verb (used with object)
  • o·ver·coach, verb
  • un·coach·a·ble, adjective
  • un·coached, adjective
  • well-coached, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use coach in a sentence

  • Coached since childhood in social responsibility, he thought of it now.

    The Status Civilization | Robert Sheckley
  • Gillespie coached him on parliamentary matters, and in time the reports became technically as well as artistically good.

  • Bemolle himself was nervous about it, but the Professor (who knew as much about business as Anne-Marie) had coached him.

    The Devourers | Annie Vivanti Chartres
  • Indeed, Mr. McCrea had "coached" her son in mathematics, and had been most helpful in securing the appointment.

    To The Front | Charles King
  • And every man he coached in the task was something approaching a traitor if he abandoned that particular machine for another.

    The Hero of Panama | F. S. Brereton

British Dictionary definitions for coach

coach

/ (kəʊtʃ) /


noun
  1. a vehicle for several passengers, used for transport over long distances, sightseeing, etc

  2. a large four-wheeled enclosed carriage, usually horse-drawn

  1. a railway carriage carrying passengers

  2. a trainer or instructor: a drama coach

  3. a tutor who prepares students for examinations

verb
  1. to give tuition or instruction to (a pupil)

  2. (tr) to transport in a bus or coach

Origin of coach

1
C16: from French coche, from Hungarian kocsi szekér wagon of Kocs, village in Hungary where coaches were first made; in the sense: to teach, probably from the idea that the instructor carried his pupils

Derived forms of coach

  • coacher, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012