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coir

[koir]
noun
  1. the prepared fiber of the husk of the coconut fruit, used in making rope, matting, etc.
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Origin of coir

1575–85; < Malayalam kayaru cord; replacing cairo < Portuguese < Tamil kayiṟu rope
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for coir

Historical Examples of coir

  • Manilla, coir, and some other ropes, do not require tarring.

    The Sailor's Word-Book

    William Henry Smyth

  • Where else do we find a priestly fugitive slave, who held his sacred office by the coir na glaive, the Eight of Sword?

  • They had put a coir warp ashore, and gave the barque a cant in the current, so as to bring the broadside to bear on the flagstaff.

  • If a small line could be got across from ship to ship, the end of it would be made fast to a coir hawser in the Monsoon.

    Pincher Martin, O.D.

    H. Taprell Dorling

  • Coir, koir, n. the strong fibre of the husk of the coco-nut, used for making door-mats.

British Dictionary definitions for coir

coir

noun
  1. the fibre prepared from the husk of the coconut, used in making rope and matting
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Word Origin for coir

C16: from Malayalam kāyar rope, from kāyaru to be twisted
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 coir

n.

"prepared coconut fiber," 1580s, from Malayalam kayar "cord," from kayaru "to be twisted."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper