[F. coup (ku) blow, stroke:—OF. colp, cop = Pr. colp, cop, It. colpo:—late L. colpus (Salic Law), colapus (Law of the Alemanns) blow, stroke, for L. colaphus blow with the fist, cuff, a. Gr. κόλαφος cuff, buffet. Adopted in ME. in a literal sense, and naturalized in pronunciation (see COUP sb.1); re-introduced in the 18th c. in fig. sense, as a non-naturalized word, with modern Fr. pronunciation (exc. that in Eng. the vowel is made long); it also occurs in many French phrases and expressions borrowed in English.]
1. A blow, a stroke (that one sustains). rare.
1793. Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., 4 Oct. This is a terrible coup, so soon after your union.
2. A stroke, a move (that one makes); a successful move, a ‘hit.’ † At one coup (= Fr. tout d’un coup): at one stroke, at once.
1791. Gentl. Mag., LXI. II. 829. A corrupt majority, who have at one coup overthrown all that is good.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 280. Alfred is the only fellow who has made a coup.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, xl. Henry Foker is engaged to his cousin … not a bad coup of Lady Rosherville’s that.
1883. D. C. Murray, Hearts, III. 77. He hailed the chance for a grand theatrical coup.
3. Billiards. The act of holing a ball without its first striking another ball, which occasions a forfeit.
1770. J. Love, Cricket, 5. Or when the Ball, close cushion’d, slides askew, And to the op’ning Pocket runs, a Cou.
1873. Bennett & ‘Cavendish,’ Billiards, 5. A miss lost one and a coup three.
4. Among North American Indians: A successful stroke; esp. one that captures the weapon or horse of an enemy.
1877. R. I. Dodge, Hunting Grounds Gt. West, 389 (Farmer, Americanisms). ‘Giving the coup.’… The term indicates that it was … named by the old French trappers, predecessors of the Hudson Bay Company. When a foe has been struck down in a fight, the scalp belongs to him who shall first strike the body with knife or tomahawk. This is the coup.
5. French phrases frequent in English use.
a. Coup d’état [F. état state]: a sudden and decisive stroke of state policy; spec. a sudden and great change in the government carried out violently or illegally by the ruling power.
1646. Howell, Lewis XIII, Life of Richelieu, 157. These were the two first Coups d’estat, stroaks of State that he made.
1811. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., VIII. 352. I shall be sorry to commence the era of peace by a coup d’état such as that which I had in contemplation.
1859. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., II. xcviii. 87. A coup d’état as effectual for the time as that of Louis Napoleon [2 Dec. 1851].
b. Coup de grâce [lit. stroke of grace]: a blow by which one condemned or mortally wounded is ‘put out of his misery’ or dispatched quickly; hence fig. a finishing stroke, one that settles or puts an end to something.
1699. Garth, Dispens., IV. 43. Whilst Poor Pretenders trifle o’re a Case, You but appear, and give the Coup de Grace.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 326. Not being indulged, like other Malefactors, with the Coup de Grace, the favourable Blow, to put an End to their Pain.
1820. Blackw. Mag., VI. 481/1. Whenever the baker’s stomach fails him, he meets his coup de grace in the adulterated drugs of his friend the apothecary.
c. Coup de main [lit. stroke of hand]: ‘a sudden and vigorous attack, for the purpose of instantaneously capturing a position’ (Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl.); also transf.
1758. Misc., in Ann. Reg., 373/2. Coup de main, and Manœuvre, might be excusable in Marshal Saxe.
1779. J. Moore, View Soc. Fr., II. liv. 46. Laudohn retook it … by the most brilliant coup-de-main that perhaps ever was struck.
1801. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., I. 365. This place can be taken by a coup de main, and probably in no other manner.
1877. Clery, Min. Tact., xiii. 178. To secure the guns from the coup de main on the left.
d. Coup d’œil [F. œil eye]: (a) A glance taking in a general view; concr. a view or scene as it strikes the eye at a glance.
1739. Gray, Lett. to West, 21 Nov. This is the first coup d’œil, and is almost all I am yet able to give you an account of.
1785. European Mag., VIII. 468. The spot is a beautiful coup d’œil, a woody recess.
1837. Major Richardson, Brit. Legion, i. (ed. 2), 2. We embraced one of the most magnificent coup-d’œils it is possible to conceive.
1890. Eng. Illustr. Mag., No. 87. 227. The first magnificent coup d’œil.
(b) Mil. The action or faculty of rapidly taking a general view of a position and estimating its advantages and disadvantages.
1839. Sir C. Napier, in W. N. Bruce, Life, iv. (1885), 127. This is my first coup d’œil, and may be a very erroneous one.
1853. in Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl.
1864. W. H. Ainsworth, John Law, I. iv. (1881), 91. He [the Duc de Noailles] was but a mediocre general, lacking the coup d’œil of genius.
† e. Coup de soleil [F. soleil sun]: a sunstroke. Obs.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 260. Even a coup de soleil is to be counteracted by the external application of … volatile alkali.
1814. Q. Rev., Oct., 202. Many European soldiers [in India] were struck dead by a coup de soleil.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, I. 4. I … got the malaria at Rome, a coup-de-soleil at Naples.
f. Coup de théâtre: a theatrical hit; a sensational turn or action in a play; transf. any sudden sensational act.
1747. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, June 26. This coup de theâtre procured Knight his Irish coronet.
1889. Morley, Walpole, xi. 225. The House of Commons is the worst place in the world for coups de théatre.
g. In other phrases, now rare or obs. in Eng. use, as coup d’éclat, a stroke that makes a sensation; coup d’essai, a first attempt; coup de maître, an action worthy of a master, a master-stroke.
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, IV. ii. 72. Sir Fop. I have been endeavouring at a song!… ’Tis my Coup’d Essay in English.
1712. Steele, Spectator, No. 324, ¶ 1. To put the Watch to a total Rout, and mortify some of those inoffensive Militia, is reckon’d a Coup d’éclat.
1760. Foote, Minor, I. (1798), 20. Ay, that will be a coup de maitre. Ibid. (1768), Devil on 2 Sticks, III. (1794). 57. It may do for a coup d’essai, and prove no bad foundation for a future engagement.
