coasted

Verb

coast (third-person singular simple present coasts, present participle coasting, simple past and past participle coasted)

1. (intransitive) To glide along without adding energy; to allow a vehicle to continue moving forward after disengaging the engine or ceasing to apply motive power.
   • When I ran out of gas, fortunately I managed to coast into a nearby gas station.
2. (intransitive) To sail along a coast.
   • The Ancients coasted only in their Navigations.1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations

   Synonyms:

   hug the coastline

3. (figuratively, intransitive) To make a minimal effort; to continue to do something in a routine way, without initiative or effort.
   • Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.2014 November 2, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 02 Jun 2022
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.
   • Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
5. (obsolete, transitive) To sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.
   • Nearchus, […] not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore.1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC
6. (obsolete, transitive) To conduct along a coast or river bank.
   • The Indians […] coasted me a long the river.1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC

See all 12 meanings of coast