Also 7–8 coile, coyl(e, quoile. [Goes with COIL sb.3, neither being as yet traced beyond 1611, though, as nautical words, they were no doubt in spoken use much earlier. The vb. is generally supposed to be identical with F. cueillir to gather, collect, cull, which Littré has as a ‘terme de marine,’ ‘plier une manœuvre en rond ou en ellipse.’ Cf. the Pg. colher un cabo ‘to coil a cable’ (Vieyra).]
1. trans. To lay up (a cable, rope, etc.) in concentric rings; the rings may be disposed above each other, or one ring within another, or over cleats, etc., as is done with small lines, to prevent entanglement. Const. with up.
1611. Cotgr., Vrillonner vne cable, to coil a cable, to wind or lay it vp round, or in a ring.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., vii. 30. Quoile a Cable, is to lay it up in a round Ring, or fake, one above another.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. xxiii. (1737), 97. I’ll coyle this Rope.
1719. Glossogr. Angl. Nova, At sea, a rope or cable laid up round, one Fake or turn over another … is said to be quoiled up.
a. 1785. Glover, Athenaid, XIX. (R.). Our conductor gathered as he stept, A clue, which careful in his hand he coil’d.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., xv. When its blow was spent, Swiftly the dextrous spearman coil’d the string, And sped again the artificer of death.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xiv. Directed the two men forward to coil a hawser upon the foregrating.
absol. 1833. Marryat, P. Simple, viii. Tell Mr. Simpkins … to coil away upon the jetty.
fig. 1789. Dibdin, Song, Poor Jack, ii. And, my timbers! what lingo he’d coil and belay.
2. a. To enwrap within coils.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Knt. of Malta, II. i. (1647), 76/2.
| Coyld up in a Cable, like salt Eeles; | |
| Or buried low ith’ballaste. |
1681. Crowne, 1st Pt. Hen. VI., IV. 46.
| To sail with him into his own safe Harbour | |
| The People’s rage, and not be well coyl’d round | |
| With proofs, that will resist small shot at least. |
b. To enfold in a coil, ensnare. rare.
1748. T. Edwards, Canons of Criticism, Sonn. xxxiv. (1765), 340.
| Shun follies haunts, and vicious company, | |
| Least from true goodness they thy steps entice, | |
| Ane Pleasure coil thee in her dangerous snare. |
3. To twist in or into a circular, spiral or winding shape; to twist or wind round (something).
a. 1691. Boyle, Wks. (1772), III. 179 (J.). Until the pressure of the air, that at first coyled them, be re-admitted to do the same thing for them again.
1711. E. Ward, Quix., I. 155.
| In the warm Sun still grew the madder, | |
| As quoil’d in Dust like Snake or Adder. |
1837. Brewster, Magnet., 311–2. Each strand of wire … was coiled several times backward and forward over itself.
1862. Illustr. Lond. News, XL. 224/1. An Armstrong gun is made of wrought-iron bars coiled into hoops.
1866. Tate, Brit. Mollusks, iv. 210. The shells of [Planorbis] … are … flat, and coiled nearly in the same plane.
1870. T. De W. Talmage, Crumbs Swept Up, 270. Crimped, or coiled, or bunched, or flumixed their hair.
b. refl.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 8. You shall see it to winde and coyl itself up like a Spring.
1817. J. M‘Leod, Voy. Alceste, 261. He [the snake] now coiled himself up again.
c. 1828. Broderip, in Zool. Jrnl., II. The serpent … coiled himself round the rabbit, and appeared to draw out the dead body through his folds.
c. To coil up: to twist into a fixed or constrained position.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), I. 309. Little hoops, coil’d up in a spring.
1785. Reid, Int. Powers, II. ix. 276. They make a continued chain of ideas coyled up in the brain.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, II. iv. 69. She sat, coiled up like a snake, on a divan.
4. intr. (for refl.) To throw oneself into a spiral or winding form, to twist oneself round.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., IV. xiii. They coil’d and swam.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 25/1. The snake … seized the keeper by the left thumb, and coiled round his arm and neck in a moment.
1864. Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 577. The long convolvuluses That coil’d around the stately stems.
5. intr. To move in a spiral or winding course.
1816. W. Taylor, Month. Mag., XLI. 329. Like doves … Coiling in sweepy rings with cooings bland.
1866. Motley, Dutch Rep., VI. i. 772. He could coil unperceived through unsuspected paths.
