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
Just here Hazel entered and replenished the hearth, stopping half-way, with her armful of brush, to coquet an instant in the mirror, and adjust the scarlet love-knot in her curls.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 79, May, 1864 by Various
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
In Prussia it has been the habit, from time immemorial, for the heir to the throne to coquet with the Liberals, and to be supposed to entertain progressive opinions.
From Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris by Labouchere, Henry
You will say, I am a coquet even in friendship; and I am not quite sure you are not in the right.
From The History of Emily Montague by Brooke, Frances
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
If Eloise d'Anville hadn't coquetted with young Creil I shouldn't be Commissioner here to-day, settling my account with Louis.
From One-Act Plays By Modern Authors by Various
The idle wits frequented the public walks, coquetted, and made madrigals.
From Priests, Women, and Families by Michelet, Jules
And many of these came--very many, all who coquetted with a little bit of musical interest--yes, and many others.
From Asbe?n From the Life of a Virtuoso by Schubin, Ossip
Peter glowed with rage to think all the world could penetrate this slight transparency; he burned with jealous fury as Eveline smiled, coquetted, cast glances here, there, and was stared at through a hundred opera-glasses.
From Black Diamonds by Jókai, Mór
In short he had given way to the belief that she had been coquetting with him.
From The White Gauntlet by Reid, Mayne
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
Then Nellie, who had been coquetting with his hopes and fears, had once again plunged him into the depths.
From Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life by King, Charles
"Is she only coquetting with me?" he asked himself, "or--or--" A passionate joy throbbed in his veins, then suddenly an icy shudder ran over him.
From Asbe?n From the Life of a Virtuoso by Schubin, Ossip
Will they be outweighed by the preservation of one's self-respect, and is not this, after all, a matter of opinion?--is it not a sort of coquetting with one's self?
From A Twofold Life by Hillern, Wilhelmine von
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.
