coach

American  

[kohch] / koʊtʃ /

noun

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

2. a public motorbus.

3. Railroads. day coach.

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

5. a person who trains an athlete or a team of athletes.

   a football coach.

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

   Synonyms:

   preceptor, mentor

7. a person who instructs an actor or singer.

8. 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.

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

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

11. mobile home.

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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.

coach British  

/ 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

3. a railway carriage carrying passengers

4. a trainer or instructor

   a drama coach

5. a tutor who prepares students for examinations

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verb

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

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

Other Word Forms

• coachability
  noun
• coachable
  adjective
• coacher
  noun
• outcoach
  verb (used with object)
• overcoach
  verb
• uncoachable
  adjective
• uncoached
  adjective
• well-coached
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of coach

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

Explanation

Nowadays, we mostly think of a coach as someone who trains a team, but it can also refer to a vehicle, such as a horse-drawn coach or coach bus (the kind with a bathroom in the back). The first meaning of coach was in the mid-16th Century for a carriage, probably named for Kocs, the Hungarian village where they were first made and called kocsi. In the mid-19th Century, the name was given to railway cars, and nowadays the least expensive travel class is described as "coach." It's thought that the idea of a coach as a teacher came about because of the idea that a coach "carries" a student to success through his or her teaching.

Example Sentences

He was arrested on a National Express coach a few days later by armed police.

From BBC • May 28, 2026

The head coach shouting harsh critiques from the sideline, the assistant coach there to put his arm around you when you made it, crestfallen and ashamed, back to the bench.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026

“It is absolutely a position of failure,” the coach said.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Sports was in my family too — basketball, specifically — and I came to view Dan and Ed as head and assistant coach, respectively.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026

“A drum with sticks. A coach and four. An India rubber ball, and a nutcracker. Nothing remotely edible.”

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• mentor
• teacher
• trainer