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coir

[koir]
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noun

the prepared fiber of the husk of the coconut fruit, used in making rope, matting, etc.

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. 2019

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

the fibre prepared from the husk of the coconut, used in making rope and matting

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."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper