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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

coax.

To fondle, kid, pet, tease.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/kəʊks/UK/koʊks/US
  1. To fondle, kid, pet, tease.

    obsolete
  2. To wheedle or persuade (a person, organisation, animal etc.) gradually or by use of flattery to do something.

    transitive
    He coaxed the horse gently into the trailer.
  3. To carefully manipulate (someone or something) into a particular desired state, situation or position.

    transitive
    They coaxed the rope through the pipe.
    I've finally coaxed the sticky drawers open.
Where this word comes from

Originally (1586) in the slang phrase to make a coax of, from earlier noun coax, cox, cokes "fool, simpleton", itself of obscure origin, perhaps related to cock (“male bird, pert boy”). The modern spelling is from 1706.

noun/kəʊks/UK/koʊks/US
  1. A simpleton; a dupe.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Originally (1586) in the slang phrase to make a coax of, from earlier noun coax, cox, cokes "fool, simpleton", itself of obscure origin, perhaps related to cock (“male bird, pert boy”). The modern spelling is from 1706.

noun/ˈkəʊæks/UK/koʊæks/US
  1. Clipping of coaxial cable.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Shortened from coaxial

adj/ˈkəʊæks/UK/koʊæks/US
  1. Clipping of coaxial.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Shortened from coaxial

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.