Definition of "coily"
coily1
adjective
comparative coilier, superlative coiliest
coily2
adverb
comparative more coily, superlative most coily
(rare) Obsolete form of coyly.
Quotations
She coily biting the lip, and brideling her head, as if ſhe had bene ſome mans beſt Gelding, ſprucely thus replyed.
1620, [Giovanni Boccaccio], translated by I. F. [attributed to John Florio], The Decameron: Containing an Hundred Pleasant Nouels. Wittily Discoursed, betweene Seauen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen., London: […] Isaac Iaggard, page 13
How often hath the wanton wind / To gentleſt blaſts himſelf confin’d, / Whilſt playing with you too unkind / You ſhook him off and ſtill untwin’d, / And coily turn’d another way, / Diſdaining his unlicenc’d play?
1659, [Dudley North, 3rd Baron North], A Forest Promiscuous of Several Seasons Productions. The Entrance, or, First Part., London: […] Daniel Pakeman, page 21
At firſt ſhe coily ev’ry kiſs withſtood, / And all her cheek was fluſh’d with modeſt blood: / With heedleſs nails he now ſurrounds her ſhoes, / To ſave her ſteps from rains and piercing dews.
1784 , John Gay, “Trivia”, in The Poetical Works of John Gay. Including His Fables. In Three Volumes. With the Life of the Author. From the Royal Quarto Edition of 1720., Bell’s second edition, volume I, Edinburgh: At the Apollo Press, by the Martins, page 46, lines 261–264
And ends her pavin, thirteen times as ſoon / As doth her brother, of whoſe golden hair / She borroweth part and proudly doth it wear; / Then doth ſhe coily turn her face aſide, / That half her cheek is ſcarce ſometimes deſcry’d.
1793 , John Davies, “Orchestra; or, A Poem on Dancing”, in The Poetical Works of Sir John Davies. […], Edinburgh: […] Mundell and Son, […], stanza XLI, page 715, column 1
Quotations