verb
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to behave flirtatiously
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to dally or trifle
Etymology
Origin of coquet
1685–95; < French; literally, cockerel, equivalent to coq cock + -et -et
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.
See Examples For:
A: I'm afraid I was a bit of a coquet in my youth, but now that I'm a grandmother with an 18-year-old granddaughter, I'm simplifying what I wear.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2010
Even to the end she would deck herself and coquet to her glass.
From At a Winter's Fire by Capes, Bernard Edward Joseph
The lover continues his doleful lamenting, which is at last interrupted by the entrance of the May Queen herself, who chides him for his complaints and argues her right to coquet on such a day.
From The Standard Cantatas Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers by Upton, George P. (George Putnam)
It seemed to coquet with Dawe Armitage; to pour out its infinitesimal stars—-red, blue, green, gold, and amethyst—blazing, splintering, and coruscating to dazzle and bewilder him.
From The Black Opal by Prichard, Katharine Susannah
If you are so inclined, you play low, and coquet with fortune, or if lavishly given, you throw the reins loose and go free.
From Roland Cashel Volume I (of II) by Lever, Charles James
Madame coquetted with him in the most captivating and naive manner, with eyes, gestures, and a profusion of compliments, till the Colonel’s old head felt thirty years younger on his padded shoulders.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
As usual, the most distinguished ladies coquetted with him, and displayed all the magnificence and all the charms which the luxury of a great and brilliant court can bestow upon women.
From A Twofold Life by Hillern, Wilhelmine von
Becker, indeed, once coquetted with the thought of patronising him; but the project had no sequel, and it stands alone.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 17 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis
The duke of Parma, who had coquetted for some time with the French monarch, was won over to Spain by the restoration of Placentia, of which he had been despoiled by Charles the Fifth.
From History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, Vols. 1 and 2 by Prescott, William Hickling
Away to the westward irregular fragments of thundercloud, which seemed incapable of cohering sufficiently to produce a storm, coquetted with the quivering mountain-tops.
From By Veldt and Kopje by Scully, W. C. (William Charles)
He must have been couching somewhere, the funny old rogue, behind the Pole; he must have been coquetting with the beauties of Greenland or Nova Zembla.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 4 by Various
And Freyja that morning was very frisky; she minced along sideways on her golden shoes, coquetting with her own shadow, and making little playful snaps at her 110bridle.
From The Diamond Fairy Book by Various
She was more like herself now, laughing softly and coquetting with the hole in the cave.
From Nobody's Child by Dejeans, Elizabeth
Smarting under these injuries, Bourbon, who for some time had been coquetting with the enemies of France, renewed his negotiations with the emperor and Henry VIII. of England.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
They fancied that M. Thiers was coquetting with the émeute, that the petit bourgeois, as he hypocritically called himself, wanted to cozen the monarchists, and, using Paris as his lever, overthrow them.
From History of the Commune of 1871 by Lissagary, P.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
