coyness


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coy

 (koi)
adj. coy·er, coy·est
1.
a. Affectedly and often flirtatiously shy or modest: "I pictured myself as some sylvan deity, and she a coy wood nymph of whom I was in pursuit" (Washington Irving).
b. Characterized by or suggesting such shyness or modesty: "How absurd I must have looked standing there before him ... a coy little simper on my foolish young face" (Jane Avrich).
2. Unwilling to make a commitment or divulge information: "As a child, when I asked my mother her age she was coy and evasive" (Lynne Sharon Schwartz).
3. Tending to avoid people and social situations; reserved: "The children were staring up at him, too coy to question him and too curious not to stare" (Edwidge Danticat).

[Middle English, from Old French quei, coi, quiet, still, from Vulgar Latin *quētus, from Latin quiētus, past participle of quiēscere, to rest; see kweiə- in Indo-European roots.]

coy′ly adv.
coy′ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.coyness - the affectation of being demure in a provocative way
affectedness - the quality of being false or artificial (as to impress others)
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

coyness

noun shyness, reserve, modesty, timidity, affectation, diffidence, prudery, evasiveness, prudishness, bashfulness, skittishness, primness, archness, prissiness (informal), coquettishness, demureness She discusses sexual matters without a trace of coyness.
Quotations
"Had we but world enough, and time"
"This coyness, lady, were no crime" [Andrew Marvell To his Coy Mistress]
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

coyness

noun
An awkwardness or lack of self-confidence in the presence of others:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
خَجَل، حَياء
ostýchavost
blyhedkokethed
feimni
hanblivosť
utangaçlık

coyness

[ˈkɔɪnɪs] N
1. (= demureness) → timidez f (pej) (= coquettishness) → coquetería f
2. (= evasiveness) → evasivas fpl, reticencias fpl
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

coyness

[ˈkɔɪnɪs] n
(= coquettishness) → coquetterie f
(= reticence) → réserve f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

coyness

n (= shyness)Verschämtheit f; (= coquettishness)neckisches or kokettes Benehmen; (= evasiveness)ausweichende Haltung
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

coyness

[ˈkɔɪnɪs] n (affected shyness) → falsa timidezza; (evasiveness) → evasività; (coquetry) → civetteria
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

coy

(koi) adjective
(pretending to be) shy. She gave her brother's friend a coy smile.
ˈcoyly adverb
ˈcoyness noun
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
His experience of women was great enough for him to be aware that the negative often meant nothing more than the preface to the affirmative; and it was little enough for him not to know that in the manner of the present negative there lay a great exception to the dallyings of coyness. That she had already permitted him to make love to her he read as an additional assurance, not fully trowing that in the fields and pastures to "sigh gratis" is by no means deemed waste; love-making being here more often accepted inconsiderately and for its own sweet sake than in the carking anxious homes of the ambitious, where a girl's craving for an establishment paralyzes her healthy thought of a passion as an end.
By the grace of her movements, by the softness and flexibility of her small limbs, and by a certain coyness and reserve of manner, she reminded one of a pretty, half-grown kitten which promises to become a beautiful little cat.
Yet for all that, in thy coyness, And thy fickle fits between, Hope is there- at least the border Of her garment may be seen.
Cyrus had at last been driven to believe that Cecily's aversion to him was real, and not merely the defence of maiden coyness. If she hated him so intensely that she would rather write that note on the blackboard than sit with him, what use was it to sigh like a furnace longer for her?
At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.
The birds were all at roost, the daisies on the green had closed their fairy hoods, the honeysuckle twining round the porch exhaled its perfume in a twofold degree, as though it lost its coyness at that silent time and loved to shed its fragrance on the night; the ivy scarcely stirred its deep green leaves.
If he had thought there had been one bit of coyness in her words, one feminine flutter, one womanly attempt at deliberate lure and encouragement, he would have been elated.
Aaron was not indisposed to display his talents, even to an ogre, under protecting circumstances; and after a few more signs of coyness, consisting chiefly in rubbing the backs of his hands over his eyes, and then peeping between them at Master Marner, to see if he looked anxious for the "carril", he at length allowed his head to be duly adjusted, and standing behind the table, which let him appear above it only as far as his broad frill, so that he looked like a cherubic head untroubled with a body, he began with a clear chirp, and in a melody that had the rhythm of an industrious hammer
On the instant, the she-wolf's coyness and playfulness disappeared.
There were jaunty young Cambridge-men travelling with their tutor, and going for a reading excursion to Nonnenwerth or Konigswinter; there were Irish gentlemen, with the most dashing whiskers and jewellery, talking about horses incessantly, and prodigiously polite to the young ladies on board, whom, on the contrary, the Cambridge lads and their pale-faced tutor avoided with maiden coyness; there were old Pall Mall loungers bound for Ems and Wiesbaden and a course of waters to clear off the dinners of the season, and a little roulette and trente-et-quarante to keep the excitement going; there was old Methuselah, who had married his young wife, with Captain Papillon of the Guards holding her parasol and guide-books; there was young May who was carrying off his bride on a pleasure tour (Mrs.
The reflections of Sir Mulberry Hawk--if such a term can be applied to the thoughts of the systematic and calculating man of dissipation, whose joys, regrets, pains, and pleasures, are all of self, and who would seem to retain nothing of the intellectual faculty but the power to debase himself, and to degrade the very nature whose outward semblance he wears--the reflections of Sir Mulberry Hawk turned upon Kate Nickleby, and were, in brief, that she was undoubtedly handsome; that her coyness MUST be easily conquerable by a man of his address and experience, and that the pursuit was one which could not fail to redound to his credit, and greatly to enhance his reputation with the world.
At other downward flights of steps, are other lamps, marking the whereabouts of oyster-cellars - pleasant retreats, say I: not only by reason of their wonderful cookery of oysters, pretty nigh as large as cheese-plates (or for thy dear sake, heartiest of Greek Professors!), but because of all kinds of caters of fish, or flesh, or fowl, in these latitudes, the swallowers of oysters alone are not gregarious; but subduing themselves, as it were, to the nature of what they work in, and copying the coyness of the thing they eat, do sit apart in curtained boxes, and consort by twos, not by two hundreds.