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coconut shy

British  

noun

  1. a fairground stall in which balls are thrown to knock coconuts off stands

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Her greatest material treasure was an egregiously shiny bit of tin she’d won at a fairground coconut shy; this fact can’t be denied.”

From Slate • Apr. 25, 2016

“Too far south,” Spence said, before I could ask whether we might encounter members of the Spence clan manning the bumper cars or the coconut shy.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 2, 2015

It also offers a rebuke to the transfer window coconut shy in England in which vast sums are thrown at a depressing array of mediocrities in a desperate attempt to secure Premier League survival.

From The Guardian • Feb. 9, 2013

But Dhoni must have thought he was impersonating a coconut shy, because of the wayward throwing.

From The Guardian • Jul. 29, 2011

Brazil had absolutely battered Argentina, hitting the woodwork three times and mistaking the Argentina keeper Sergio Goycochea for a coconut shy, and Maradona had been at best peripheral.

From The Guardian • Jun. 26, 2010