[a. F. coquet, orig. sb., dim. of coq cock, in reference to the strutting gait and amorous characteristics of the cock; hence ‘a beau,’ and in the fem. coquette ‘a belle’; also as adj. ‘forward, wanton, gallant’: cf. COCK v.1, also COCKISH, COCKY a., and COCKET a., which is prob. the same word in an earlier stage of meaning. In later use, the adjective in English became inseparably blended with the attributive use of the sb., to which also it became entirely assimilated in sense. The sb. was, as in Fr., formerly used of both sexes, and in both spelt coquet; but in the 18th c. the fem. became coquette after Fr., and the masculine became obsolete.]
† 2. Amorously forward or familiar. Obs.
1708. Brit. Apollo, I. No. 2. 11/2. A gentleman, a Friend of her’s, is always very Coquet to her in his drink, and never so at other times: because folly is the effect of drunkenness.
1711. Wentworth Papers (1882), 214. Her Grace of Shrewsbery is now very coquet with Lord Ashburnham.
3. Having or showing the disposition of a coquette; coquettish; said of persons or their actions.
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, II. i. A lady may (with the Expence of a few Coquet Glances) lead twenty fools about in a string for two or three years together.
1702. Eng. Theophrast., 274. The greatest miracle love can work is to cure a coquet humour.
1769. Mrs. Brooke, Hist. E. Montague (1784), I. iv. 23. They [Canadian ladies] are gay, coquet, and sprightly; more gallant than sensible.
1861. W. H. Russell, in Times, 10 July, 5/2. Some women dressed as ‘vivandières,’ minus the coquet air and the trousers and boots of those ladies.
1869. Mrs. Palliser, Lace, xxv. 299. More coquet than a woman.
b. transf. of things.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), IV. 286. On the piers of a garden-gate not far from Paris I observed two very coquet sphinxes.
1867. J. Macgregor, Voy. Alone (1868), 129. Steamers of all shapes … with flags often exceedingly coquet.
† B. sb. 1. A man who from vanity or selfish motives aims at making himself generally attractive to the other sex; a male flirt; a ‘lady-killer.’ Obs.
1696. Phillips, Coquet, an Amorous Courtier, one that makes it his business to cause himself to be belov’d, and gain the love of Women.
1728. Gay, Begg. Op., III. Wks. (1772), 123. The coquets of both sexes are self-lovers, and that is a love no other what ever can dispossess.
1732. Mrs. Delany, Autobiog. & Corr. (1861), I. 362. My brother is playing the coquet among the belles on Tunbridge walks. Cf. COQUETTE 1 c.
2. The common earlier form of COQUETTE, q.v.
