coach

[kohch]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR coach ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

a public motorbus.

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

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

a private tutor who prepares a student for an examination.

a person who instructs an actor or singer.

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.

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

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

mobile home.

verb (used with object)

to give instruction or advice to in the capacity of a coach; instruct: She has coached the present tennis champion.

verb (used without object)

to act as a coach.

to go by or in a coach.

adverb

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

Origin of coach

1550–60; 1840–50 for sense “tutor”; earlier coche(e) < Middle French coche < German Kotsche, Kutsche < 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

Related formscoach·a·ble, adjectivecoach·a·bil·i·ty, nounout·coach, verb (used with object)o·ver·coach, verbun·coach·a·ble, adjectiveun·coached, adjectivewell-coached, adjective

Synonyms for coach

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR coach ON THESAURUS.COM

6. mentor, preceptor.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for coach

trainer, teacher, mentor, tutor, teach, train, skipper, educator, bus, vehicle, car, stage, perambulator, victoria, charabanc, chaise, hone, educate, prepare, school

Examples from the Web for coach

Contemporary Examples of coach

With a .700 career winning percentage as a coach in college and the NFL, Harbaugh is a winner.
Is Any College Football Coach Worth $60 Million? Jim Harbaugh Is
Jesse Lawrence
December 20, 2014
Michigan supposedly offered 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh a $42 million contract, which would him the highest-paid coach in the NCAA.
Is Any College Football Coach Worth $60 Million? Jim Harbaugh Is
Jesse Lawrence
December 20, 2014
Having just crossed the country in coach, I needed instant spiritual repair.
Beer Countries vs. Wine Countries
Clive Irving
December 7, 2014
Tip: The narrower upper deck in coach is the better choice because its eight-seat rows cannot be extended.
Flying Coach Is the New Hell: How Airlines Engineer You Out of Room
Clive Irving
November 25, 2014
Shattuck retired her pom-poms after two years, but stayed on for six more as a coach.
From Baltimore Ravens Cheerleader to Mrs. Robinson
Brandy Zadrozny
November 6, 2014

Historical Examples of coach

A doze in the coach is the flower of dozes, when you are alone.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, Issue 266, July 28, 1827
Various
The coach stopped at this instant, and the conversation was interrupted.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
But I thought you must leave the coach, with all the rest, to the rightful heir.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
Lady Bradstone could not bear to go with more than four in a coach.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
We always had a coach to go in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for coach

coach

noun

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

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

a railway carriage carrying passengers

a trainer or instructora drama coach

a tutor who prepares students for examinations

verb

to give tuition or instruction to (a pupil)

(tr) to transport in a bus or coach

Derived Formscoacher, noun

Word Origin for coach

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

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

Word Origin and History for coach

1550s, "large kind of carriage," from Middle French coche (16c.), from German kotsche, from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) "(carriage) of Kocs," village where it was first made. In Hungary, the thing and the name for it date from 15c., and forms are found in most European languages (e.g. Spanish and Portuguese coche, Italian cocchino, Dutch koets). Applied to railway cars 1866, American English. Sense of "economy or tourist class" is from 1949. Meaning "instructor/trainer" is c.1830 Oxford University slang for a tutor who "carries" a student through an exam; athletic sense is 1861.

1610s, "to convey in a coach," from coach (n.). Meaning "to prepare (someone) for an exam" is from 1849. Related: Coached; coaching.