coil

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

coil, v. t. [OF. coillir, F. cueillir, to collect, gather together, L. coligere; col- + legere to gather. See Legend, and cf. Cull, v. t., Collect.].

•  To wind cylindrically or spirally; as, to coil a rope when not in use; the snake coiled itself before springing.  [1913 Webster]
•  To encircle and hold with, or as with, coils.  T. Edwards.  [1913 Webster]

coil, v. i. 

 To wind itself cylindrically or spirally; to form a coil; to wind; -- often with about or around.  [1913 Webster]
"You can see his flery serpents . . .
Coiting, playing in the water."  [1913 Webster]

coil, n. 

•  A ring, series of rings, or spiral, into which a rope, or other like thing, is wound.  [1913 Webster]

  "The wild grapevines that twisted their coils from trec to tree."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: Entanglement; toil; mesh; perplexity.  [1913 Webster]
•  A series of connected pipes in rows or layers, as in a steam heating apparatus.  [1913 Webster]

Induction coil. (Elec.) See under Induction. -- Ruhmkorff's coil (Elec.), an induction coil, sometimes so called from Ruhmkorff (, a prominent manufacturer of the apparatus.

coil, n. [Of Celtic origin; cf. Gael. goil fume, rage.].

 A noise, tumult, bustle, or confusion.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

coil, n. & v.
--n.
1 anything arranged in a joined sequence of concentric circles.
2 a length of rope, a spring, etc., arranged in this way.
3 a single turn of something coiled, e.g. a snake.
4 a lock of hair twisted and coiled.
5 an intra-uterine contraceptive device in the form of a coil.
6 Electr. a device consisting of a coiled wire for converting low voltage to high voltage, esp. for transmission to the sparking plugs of an internal-combustion engine.
7 a piece of wire, piping, etc., wound in circles or spirals.
8 a roll of postage stamps.
--v.
1 tr. arrange in a series of concentric loops or rings.
2 tr. & intr. twist or be twisted into a circular or spiral shape.
3 intr. move sinuously.

coil, n.

Idiom

this mortal coil the difficulties of earthly life (with ref. to Shakesp. Hamlet III. i. 67).

Etymology

16th c.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

coil

bolt, braid, brouhaha, bun, chignon, circles, cirrus, coil, corkscrew, crimp, crisp, cue, curl, curlicue, entwine, enwrap, evolute, foofaraw, furore, gyre, helix, involute, kink, knot, loop, part, piece, pigtail, plait, portion, queue, rattail, revolve, ringlet, roll, rotate, ruckus, rumpus, run, screw, scroll, shindig, shindy, snake, spiral, strip, swirl, tail, tendril, topknot, turn, twine, twirl, twist, uproar, volute, volution, vortex, whirl, whorl, wind, wrap, wreathe

ROGET THESAURUS

coil

Complexity

N complexity, complexness, complexus, complication, implication, intricacy, intrication, perplexity, network, labyrinth, wilderness, jungle, involution, raveling, entanglement, coil, sleave, tangled skein, knot, Gordian knot, wheels within wheels, kink, gnarl, knarl, webwork, difficulty, gnarled, knarled, complex, complexed, intricate, complicated, perplexed, involved, raveled, entangled, knotted, tangled, inextricable, irreducible.

Difficulty

N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.

Convolution

N convolution, winding, convolution, involution, circumvolution, wave, undulation, tortuosity, anfractuosity, sinuosity, sinuation, meandering, circuit, circumbendibus, twist, twirl, windings and turnings, ambages, torsion, inosculation, reticulation, rivulation, roughness, coil, roll, curl, buckle, spiral, helix, corkscrew, worm, volute, rundle, tendril, scollop, scallop, escalop, kink, ammonite, snakestone, serpent, eel, maze, labyrinth, knot, convoluted, winding, twisted, tortile, tortive, wavy, undated, undulatory, circling, snaky, snake-like, serpentine, serpent, anguill, vermiform, vermicular, mazy, tortuous, sinuous, flexuous, anfractuous, reclivate, rivulose, scolecoid, sigmoid, sigmoidal, spiriferous, spiroid, involved, intricate, complicated, perplexed, labyrinth, labyrinthic, labyrinthian, labyrinthine, peristaltic, daedalian, kinky, knotted, wreathy, frizzly, crepe, buckled, raveled, spiral, coiled, helical, cochleate, cochleous, screw-shaped, turbinated, turbiniform, in and out, round and round, a can of worms, Gordian knot.

VB be convoluted, wind, twine, turn and twist, twirl, wave, undulate, meander, inosculate, entwine, intwine, twist, coil, roll, wrinkle, curl, crisp, twill, frizzle, crimp, crape, indent, scollop, scallop, wring, intort, contort, wreathe.

Circuition

N circuition, circulation, turn, curvet, excursion, circumvention, circumnavigation, circumambulation, northwest passage, circuit, turning, wrench, evolution, coil, corkscrew, turning, circuitous, circumforaneous, circumfluent, round about.