quoin, coign, coigne
(noun) the keystone of an arch
quoin, coign, coigne
(noun) expandable metal or wooden wedge used by printers to lock up a form within a chase
Source: WordNet® 3.1
coign (plural coigns)
A projecting corner or angle; a cornerstone.
The keystone of an arch.
A wedge used in typesetting.
A a corner of a crystal formed by the intersection of three or more faces at a point (in crystallography)
An original angular elevation of land around which continental growth has taken place (in geology)
• incog
Source: Wiktionary
Coign, n.
Definition: A var. spelling of Coin, Quoin, a corner, wedge; -- chiefly used in the phrase coign of vantage, a position advantageous for action or observation.
From some shielded nook or coign of vantage. The Century.
The lithosphere would be depressed on four faces; . . . the four projecting coigns would stand up as continents. Nature.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 February 2025
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
