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coach

[kohch]
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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.
  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.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to act as a coach.
  2. to go by or in a coach.
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adverb
  1. by coach or in coach-class accommodations: We flew coach from Denver to New York.
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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

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6. mentor, preceptor.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for coach

coach

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 instructora 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
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Derived Formscoacher, noun

Word Origin

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

n.

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.

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v.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper