coach

[kohch]

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.

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

/ 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

verb

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

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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of coach¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of coach¹

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

Example Sentences

First-class passengers flying out of New York and Los Angeles may feel like they are getting coach treatment thanks to the government shutdown.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He coached his son at school, and helped with his progression into Newcastle's academy.

Read more on BBC

“He definitely has the record for fist bumps as not a day goes by where Elias walks up with a fist bump and a smile saying, ‘Hello coach B!’”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“She was just so lost and couldn’t find the route back,” says Brady Riggs, her coach.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Manager Dave Roberts said that pitching coach Mark Prior approached Ohtani in the sixth innings and asked him how much he had left.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• mentor 
• teacher 
• trainer