Coast | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Cōast, n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. coste, N. Fr. côte, rib, hill, shore, coast, Pr., It., & Pg. costa, Sp. costa, cuesta, N. H. Ger. küste, from Lat. costa, rib, side.]

Sense 1. The side of a thing. [Obs.] Newton.

Sense 2. The exterior line, limit, or border of a country; frontier border. [Obs.]

From the river, the river Euphrates, even to the uttermost sea, shall your coast be. Deut. xi. 24.

Sense 3. The edge or margin of the land next to the sea; the sea-shore.

He sees, in English ships, the Holland coast. Dryden.

*We the Arabian coast do know At distance, when the spices blow; By the rich odor taught to steer.* Waller.

The coast is clear, the danger is over; the enemies have left the coast. Dryden.

Coast, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. COASTED; p. pr. & sb. n. COASTING.] 1. To draw or keep near; to approach. [Rare.] Anon she hears them chant it lustily, And all in haste she coasteth to the cry. Shak. 2. To sail near a coast; to sail by or near the shore, or in sight of land. The ancients coasted only in their navigation. Arbuthnot.

To sail from port to port in the same country.
[Probably from O. Fr. coste, N. Fr. côte, hill, hill-side.] To slide down a hill on a sled, upon snow or ice. [U. S.] Bartlett.

Cōast, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To draw near to; to keep by the side of. [Obs.] Hackluyt.

Sense 2. To sail by or near. [Obs.]

Nearchus, . . . not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore. Browne.

Sense 3. To carry or conduct along a coast or river-bank. [Rare.]

The Indians . . . coasted me along the river. Hackluyt.