Coaster Meaning

/ˈkəʊ̯s.tə/
B2

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA person who originates from or inhabits a coastal area.

nounA sailor (especially the master or pilot of a vessel) who travels only in coastal waters.

I got sick riding the roller coaster with the loop-the-loop.
Tom rode the roller coaster.
Could you put your cup on a coaster?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The delicate glass was placed on a small wooden ____ to protect the table.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please use a ____ so you don't leave a ring on the wooden table.

From coast (“edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns). Coast is derived from Middle English coste (“rib; side of the body, flank; side of a building; face of a solid figure; coast, shore; bay, gulf; sea; concavity, hollow; boundary, limit; land; country; district, province, region; locality, place; division of the heavens; compass direction; direction; location with reference to direction, side”) [and other forms], from Old French coste (“rib; side of an object; coast”) (modern French côte (“rib; coast; hill, slope”)), from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”).

"People said, "Eldridge. Of course, he's an old Coaster," and Eldridge, the middle-aged shipping agent, at the beginning of every meal would say, "Chop, as we call it on the Coast," or handing a plate of onions, "Violets, we say on the Coast."" — 1936, Graham Greene, “The Cargo Ship”, in Journey Without Maps, 1st US edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, →OCLC, part 1, page 27:
"Thus, with ſhort Plummets Heav'ns deep will we ſound, / That vaſt Abyſs where humane Wit is drown'd! / In our ſmall Skiff we muſt not launce too far; / We here but Coaſters, not Diſcov'rers are." — 1669 June (first performance), John Dryden, Tyrannick Love, or, The Royal Martyr. […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1670, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 43:
"If you question a seaman on the subject, whether mere coaster or circumnavigator, he will tell you that in a snow-storm, because of its constant eddyings and gyrations, frequent trimming of sails is more necessary than in any other gale, and that to steer a straight and steady course under such circumstances is for the time simply impossible." — 1881 April, “Snow Storm Gales”, in Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, volume XVI, number CLXXXIII, London: Edward Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 59:
"His father was skipper of a small coaster, from Bristol, and dying, left him, when quite young, to the care of his mother, by whose exertions he received a common-school education, passing his winters in school and his summers in the coasting trade, until his seventeenth year, when he left home to go upon foreign voyages." — 1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXIII, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC, page 245:
"The single line to Exmouth Docks curves round the back of the goods yard. […] The docks can handle vessels of up to 700 tons; on the day of my visit an English coaster was discharging coal and a Dutch coaster arrived with a cargo of wood pulp from Sweden." — 1960 May, R. C. Riley, “The Coastal Branches of South-East Devon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 298:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The delicate glass was placed on a small wooden ____ to protect the table.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please use a ____ so you don't leave a ring on the wooden table.

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