Coax Meaning
/kəʊks/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo fondle, kid, pet, tease.
verbTo wheedle or persuade (a person, organisation, animal etc.) gradually or by use of flattery to do something.
Sentence Examples
It still amazes me what she could coax out of table scraps.
Yanni tried to coax Skura into sending him money.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The child tried to ____ his father into buying a toy by hugging him.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I tried to ____ the shy cat out from under the sofa with food.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VI, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame."
— 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
"When the occupant of one of these floating dwellings wishes to move, […] he calls to his aid a number of muscular friends and relatives, and then, with the aid of great shovel-shaped paddles, they coax the home away to its new locality."
— 1908, E Young, “Chapter 2 In Eastern Venice”, in Peeps at Many Lands: Siam, London: Adam and Charles Black, page 6:
"Go, you're a brainless Coax, a Toy, a Fop, I'll go no farther than your Name, Sir Gregory"
— c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The child tried to ____ his father into buying a toy by hugging him.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I tried to ____ the shy cat out from under the sofa with food.