coup

(Re)borrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of cope and colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ku/
• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophone: coo

coup (plural coups)

1. A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.

   Synonym: triumph

   • 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, page 399:

     The conference was a major coup for Robarts, who received congratulations for his 'expert handling' of the 'risky venture.'

   • 2004, Charles R. Geisst, Wall Street: A History, page 116:

     While the price was considered a coup for Morgan, enhancing his reputation on Wall Street, Carnegie had a different explanation for his selling price.

   • 2005, Laryce Henderson Rybka, Legacy of the Lamp, page 252:

     " […] It was quite a coup for Pullen Park to get it. It had been in storage for awhile,^[sic] and several parks in other places wanted to purchase it."

   • 2014 August 26, Jamie Jackson, “Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real”, in The Guardian:

     Yet the capture of Di María, who was the man of the match when Real won a 10th Champions League in May, represents something a coup for United considering the club are not in Europe’s premier club competition and need to strengthen their squad after the team have let five points slip from the first two matches.

   • 2020 November 15, Yen Nee Lee, ‘A coup for China’: Analysts react to the world’s largest trade deal that excludes the U.S.‎^[1], CNBC:

     The diplomatic messaging of RCEP may be just as important as the economics—a coup for China.

   • 2022 April 30, Joe Biden, 1:02 from the start, in President Biden complete remarks at 2022 White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN)‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: C-SPAN, archived from the original on 01 May 2022:

     Just imagine if my predecessor came to this dinner this year. Now that would really have been a real coup if that occurred. [audience gasps] Little tough, huh?

2. (US, historical, of Native Americans) A blow against an enemy delivered in a way that shows bravery.
   • 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:

     Among the Blackfeet the capture of a shield, bow, gun, war bonnet, war shirt, or medicine pipe was deemed a coup.

   • 2007, James Mooney, George Bird Grinnell, Edmund Nequatewa, Native American Ways: Four Paths to Enlightenment, page 316:

     Thus, for a horseman to ride over and knock down an enemy, who was on foot, was regarded among the Blackfeet as a coup, for the horseman might be shot at close quarters, or might receive a lance thrust.

3. A coup d'état.

   Synonym: putsch

   • 1985, Christopher S. Clapham, Third World Politics: An Introduction, page 137:

     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.

   • 2003, April A. Gordon, Nigeria's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook, page 130:

     It was the military's discontent with what was happening in the country and in the military that led to the first military coup in January 1966. The First Republic was brought to an ignoble end and replaced with a military government.

   • 2013 August 23, Jonathan Steele, “The west has little influence in Egypt”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 11, page 18:

     The coup was well-planned. Fuel was artificially held back so as to create shortages and dissatisfaction with Brotherhood rule. The old state-controlled unions mounted public sector strikes that further sabotaged the economy and annoyed people. Police-controlled thugs who had been used against the Tahrir Square demonstrations in 2011 came back into action.

4. (by extension) A takeover of one group by another.
   • 2022 October 4, “Truss government in chaos amid budget confusion and coup accusations”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     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” against Truss.

5. A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.
6. (bridge) One of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks, such as the Bath coup.

coup (third-person singular simple present coups, present participle couping, simple past and past participle couped)

1. (intransitive) To make a coup.
   • 1895, Frederic Remington, “Lieutenant Casey’s Last Scout”, in Pony Tracks, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 48:

     The squaws of another race will sing the death-song of their benefactor, and woe to the Sioux if the Northern Cheyennes get a chance to coup !

   • 2023 November 25, Douglas Rushkoff, quoting Elon Musk, “‘We will coup whoever we want!’: the unbearable hubris of Musk and the billionaire tech bros”, in The Guardian‎^[4], →ISSN:

     In response to the accusation that the US government organised a coup against Evo Morales in Bolivia in order for Tesla to secure lithium there, Musk tweeted: “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.”

• touché (acknowledgement of a successful hit)

• “coup”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Cupo

Borrowed from French coup, from Middle French [Term?], from Old French colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus, from Ancient Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos).

• IPA^(key): (chiefly Netherlands) /kup/, (chiefly Belgium) /ku/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: coup
• Rhymes: -up, -u
• Homophones: koe, coupe

coup m (plural coups, diminutive coupje n)

1. a coup, a coup d'état, a putsch

   Synonyms: putsch, staatsgreep

2. a coup, a quick, surprising, brilliant move or action

• contracoup
• couppleger
• tegencoup

• → Indonesian: kup

Inherited from Old French colp, cop, from Late Latin colpus, syncopated form of Latin colaphus, from Ancient Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos).

• IPA^(key): /ku/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: cou, coud, couds, coups, cous, coût, coûts
• Rhymes: -u

coup m (plural coups)

1. blow, hit, strike
   1. sound of the action

      coup de tonnerre ― crash of thunder

   2. physical consequences of the action (marks)

      marqué de coups ― scratched

2. (by extension) fast and instantaneous action

   jeter un coup d’œil ― to have a look

   boire un coup ― to have a drink

3. (firearms) load, shot

   pistolet à six coups ― six-shot pistol

4. bit (small quantity)

   mettre un coup de peinture ― to give (something) a lick of paint

5. planned action

   préparer son coup ― to make preparations

7. (slang) lay

   Cette meuf, c’était le meilleur coup de ma vie.

   This bird was the best shag of my life.

   un bon coup ― a good lay

   • 2020 March 1, Maïa Mazaurette, “Peut-on encore être un bon coup ?”, in Le Monde‎^[5]:

     Qu’est-ce qu’un bon coup ? Cette question renvoie, sur Google, à 236 000 résultats. Elle est cinq fois plus populaire que « qu’est-ce qu’un bon citoyen ? ». Quand la demande de performance sexuelle se révèle plus forte que la performance républicaine, assiste-t-on à la chute d’une civilisation ?

     What makes someone a good lay? This question returns 236,000 results on Google. It is five times more popular than "What makes someone a good citizen?". When the demand for good sexual performance is stronger than the demand for good citizenship, are we witnessing the fall of civilization?

• beaucoup
• coupe
• couper

• “coup”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

coup m (plural coups)

1. Alternative form of co

• IPA^(key): /kɔu̯p/

coup oblique singular, m (oblique plural cous, nominative singular cous, nominative plural coup)

1. Alternative form of colp

Perhaps related to English cope.

coup

1. (transitive) To overturn.