coast

Less common meanings

4. 4
   slack offverbfigurativelyintransitive

   To make only a minimal effort, continuing in a routine way without initiative or drive.

   After the promotion, she coasted for months, doing the bare minimum.

   Talented players who coast rarely reach the top.

   UsageOften coast on something, such as talent or past success; saying someone is coasting is mildly critical.

   Similardrift, idle, slack, loaf

   Oppositestrive, hustle

5. 5
   sail near landverbintransitive

   To sail along or close to a shore, keeping near the land rather than crossing open water.

   The schooner coasted along the rugged shoreline at dawn.

   Merchant vessels would coast from port to port.

   Note

   A sailor's verb, usually without an object: a ship coasts northward, or from port to port. It comes from Middle English costeien, "to travel along a border or coast." John Arbuthnot wrote in 1727 that "the Ancients coasted only," keeping to shores rather than open sea; hug the coastline is the plainer phrase. In older English, it could also take the shore as its object, as in coasting an island, meaning sailing along its edge.

6. 6
   slide on snowverbdialectalUSintransitive

   To slide downhill, especially on a sled over snow or ice.

   Every winter the kids would coast down Miller's hill on wooden sleds.

   On snow days the children would coast down the long hill behind the church until dark.

   Similarsled, slide, toboggan, sledge

   Note

   A winter word from American regional speech, where children coast down a hill on a sled or slide over ice. It shares its physics with the freewheeling sense: gravity, not effort, keeps the sled moving. Outside the regions that use it, readers may picture a bicycle rather than a sled, so in general writing, name the sled to make the meaning clear. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The sledding sense has a historical association with American regional speech. gutenberg.org
   • Gravity can propel a sled downhill without continuing effort from its rider. static.csbsju.edu
7. 7
   districtnounobsolete

   A stretch of land forming a region, district, or country.

   P. Crescentius, in his lib. 1 de agric. cap. 5, is very copious in this subject, how a house should be wholesomely sited, in a good coast, good air, wind, etc.

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy

   Note

   Here the land needs no sea at all. In Tyndale's New Testament of 1526, Herod kills the children of Bethlehem "and in all the costes thereof." Those coasts are the surrounding inland district. Robert Burton, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, passes on advice that a house be sited "in a good coast, good air," meaning a healthy neighborhood. Older texts read differently with that in mind. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The historical regional sense of 'coast' does not require proximity to the sea. en.wiktionary.org
   • Tyndale's complete English New Testament appeared in 1526. tyndale.org
   • Tyndale's Matthew describes Herod killing Bethlehem's children and contains the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
   • Bethlehem is inland; the passage refers to its surrounding district. en.wikipedia.org
   • Robert Burton wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy. en.wikipedia.org
   • Burton reports advice about healthy house siting using the quoted phrase. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   nounobsolete

   Any side or edge of a thing, such as the border of a board or panel.

   And the Coaſt towards which the lines KL and VX are drawn, may be call’d the Coaſt of unuſual Refraction.

   1730, Isaac Newton, Opticks

   Note

   Isaac Newton still used it in his Opticks, naming one side "the Coast of unusual Refraction." It keeps the old sense of "side," from which the shoreline meaning narrowed, a shift French had already made before English took the word. A modern reader will picture a shoreline, so when quoting older scientific writing, gloss it as "side" or "edge." Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Isaac Newton used 'coast' for a side in Opticks, including the quoted expression. gutenberg.org
   • The word had a 'side' sense in Middle English. gutenberg.org
9. 9
   nounobsolete

   A region of the air or sky; a part of the heavens.

   Note

   Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590) shows it at work: Merlin can tell "under what coast of heaven the man did dwell," locating a person by the quarter of sky above him. Middle English coste already covered "division of the heavens" and "compass direction," so the phrase is less fanciful than it looks. Used today, it would read as a deliberate archaism. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene; its first three books were first published in 1590. en.wikipedia.org
   • The narrator describes Merlin as able to tell where the man lived, using the quoted phrase about a region of heaven. talus.artsci.wustl.edu
   • Middle English coste included senses referring to divisions of heaven and compass directions. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To draw near, approach, or keep close by the side of something.

    Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.

    1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis

    The 25. day of the same moneth we fell with the Cape Cantin , vpon the coast of Barbarie , and coasting along , the 27. day we found an Island called Mogado

    1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations

    Note

    Movement on land, not only by ship. In Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis (1593), Venus "coasteth to the cry," hurrying toward the sound she hears. The idea is approaching or keeping alongside, the Middle English "go alongside, skirt" behind the sailing sense. Hakluyt's 1589 "coasting along" sits on the line between this and the nautical use. Modern readers will need help to recognize it. Source

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • William Shakespeare wrote Venus and Adonis, first published in 1593. en.wikipedia.org
    • The narrator uses 'coasteth to the cry' of Venus hurrying on land toward the hounds she hears. en.wikisource.org
    • The verb descends from Middle English costeien, which included going alongside or skirting something. en.wiktionary.org
    • The words 'coasting along' occur in Hakluyt's 1589 collection. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Hakluyt passage concerns ships moving alongside a coast, supporting the suggested overlap between keeping alongside and nautical movement. gutenberg.org
11. 11
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To accompany or escort someone along a coast or riverbank, keeping pace beside them.

    Note

    The person accompanied becomes the object. In Hakluyt's English version of Laudonnière's account of a 1564 French voyage to Florida, the narrator sails up a river "being followed by the Indians, which coasted me a long the river," keeping pace with his boat along the bank. The idea is going alongside someone, close to the "keep beside" meaning. Modern English would say followed or escorted; this transitive use is obsolete.