coups

Noun

coup (plural coups)

1. A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
   • The conference was a major coup for Robarts, who received congratulations for his 'expert handling' of the 'risky venture.'2000, P. E. Bryden, “The Ontario-Quebec Axis: Postwar Strategies in Intergovernmental Negotiations”, in Edgar-André Montigny, Anne Lorene Chambers, editors, Ontario Since Confederation: A Reader...

   Synonyms:

   triumph

2. (US, historical) Of Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery.
   • Among the Blackfeet the capture of a shield, bow, gun, war bonnet, war shirt, or medicine pipe was deemed a coup.1892, George Bird Grinnell, “The Blackfoot in War”, in Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 248
3. A coup d'état.
   • Military coups and the military regimes which follow from them are so much a feature of third world politics that their presence or absence in any given region might almost be taken as a rough and ready touchstone of third worldliness.1985, Christopher S. Clapham, Third World Politics: An Introduction, page 137

   Synonyms:

   putsch

4. (broadly) A takeover of one group by another.
   • Liz Truss’s government is in chaos after the chancellor refused to confirm he would bring forward his budget to calm the markets and the home secretary accused fellow MPs of a coup against the prime minister. […] Backbenchers also expressed outrage at [Suella] Braverman’s suggestion of a “coup”...2022 October 4, “Truss government in chaos amid budget confusion and coup accusations”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2023
5. A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.
   • After seven coups he had won six times. He lost on the seventh when thirty came up.1953, Ian Fleming, “Rouge et Noir”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 50
6. One of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks, such as the Bath coup.

See all 10 meanings of coup