coils

Noun (1)

coil (plural coils)

1. Something wound in the form of a helix or spiral.
   • the sinuous coils of a snake
2. (colloquial) Any intrauterine device for contraception (originally coil-shaped).
   • ‘I’m gonna go on the pill and get fitted for a coil. I don’t wanna be pregnant. Ever. Again!’2020, Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk, Dialogue Books (2021), page 293
3. A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.

   Synonyms:

   inductor

4. A cylinder of clay.
5. (figuratively) Entanglement; perplexity.
   • What trifling coil do we mortals keep;
     Wake, eat, and drink, evacuate, and sleep.a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Human Life”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 687

Noun (2)

coil (plural coils)

1. (now obsolete except in phrases) A noise, tumult, bustle, or turmoil.
   • a. 1738, Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux, and John Ozell (translators), François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel
     And when he saw that all the dogs were flocking about her, yarring at the retardment of their access to her, and every way keeping such a coil with her as they are wont to do...

See all 13 meanings of coil