coup1
[koo]
- a highly successful, unexpected stroke, act, or move; a clever action or accomplishment.
- (among the Plains Indians of North America) a brave or reckless deed performed in battle by a single warrior, as touching or striking an enemy warrior without sustaining injury oneself.
- coup d'état.
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- count coup, (among Plains Indians of North America)
- to perform a coup.
- to recount or relate the coups one has performed.
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Origin of coup1
1640–50; < French: literally, blow, stroke, Old French colp < Late Latin colpus, Latin colaphus < Greek kólaphos
coup2
[kohp, koop]
- overturn; upset.
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Origin of coup2
1350–1400; Middle English coupe to pay for < Old Norse kaupa to buy, barter; cognate with Old English cēapian, German kaufen. See cheap
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for coup
Contemporary Examples
As it happened, the coup members found the State House “fortified with additional soldiers.”
Most coup members “lived in the diaspora in the United States and Germany,” Faal said.
That Stone would slander the democratic, pro-Western, EuroMaidan revolution as a CIA coup is no surprise.
Perhaps in part because it was an FBI coup, the CIA stepped in with its high-priced psychologist.
Had the coup succeeded, the Qatar problem might have become still worse than it is.
Historical Examples
He preferred to wait and see what coup it was she was now preparing.
Cleo The MagnificentLouis Zangwill
He was taken prisoner by the insurgents at the time of the Coup d'Etat.
A Zola DictionaryJ. G. Patterson
He sat down at the table and began a warm panegyric on the Coup d'Etat.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
Eugene briefly announced the complete success of the Coup d'Etat.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
You had just planned a coup on the Stock Exchange which promised you immense rewards.
The Market-PlaceHarold Frederic
coup1
- a brilliant and successful stroke or action
- short for coup d'état
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Word Origin
C18: from French: blow, from Latin colaphus blow with the fist, from Greek kolaphos
coup2
cowp
Scot
- to turn or fall over
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- a rubbish tip
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Word Origin
C15: perhaps identical with obsolete cope to strike; see cope 1
coup3
- Scot to barter; traffic; deal
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Word Origin
C14: from Old Norse kaupa to buy
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 coup
n.
c.1400, from Old French coup, colp "a blow, strike" (12c.), from Medieval Latin colpus, from Vulgar Latin colapus, from Latin colaphus "a cuff, box on the ear," from Greek kolaphos "a blow, slap." Meaning "a sudden decisive act" is 1852, short for coup d'etat. In Modern French the word is a workhorse, describing everything from a pat on the back to a whipping, and is used as well of thunder, gusts of wind, gunshots, and chess moves.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
coup
[(kooh)]
In politics, an abbreviation for coup d'état.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.