Coast

From Middle English and Old French coste, from Latin costa ("edge").

Full definition of coast

(plural coasts)

(obsolete) The side or edge of something. 15th-18th c.
The edge of the land where it meets an ocean, sea, gulf, bay, or large lake. from 14th c.The rocky coast of Maine has few beaches.
(obsolete) A region of land; a district or country. 14th-17th c.

1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:Then Herod perceavynge that he was moocked off the wyse men, was excedynge wroth, and sent forth and slue all the chyldren that were in bethleem, and in all the costes thereof ....
1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.ii.3:P. Crescentius, in his lib. 1 de agric. cap. 5, is very copious in this subject, how a house should be wholesomely sited, in a good coast, good air, wind, etc.

1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iii:the learned Merlin, well could tell,
Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell ....

(intransitive) To glide along without adding energy.When I ran out of gas, fortunately I managed to coast into a nearby gas station.
(intransitive, nautical) To sail along a coast.

Applied to human behavior, to make a minimal effort, to continue to do something in a routine way. This implies lack of initiative and effort.
(obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.

ShakespeareAnon she hears them chant it lustily,
And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.

Sir Thomas BrowneNearchus, ... not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore.