Coign

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɔɪn/

Origin

From Old French coigne ("wedge, cornerstone, die for stamping"), from Latin cuneus ("wedge"). See also quoin ("cornerstone")

Full definition of coign

Noun

1. A projecting corner or angle; a cornerstone
• 1922, James Joyce, UlyssesKind air defined the coigns of houses in Kildare street.
• 1936, William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!!this snug monastic coign, this dreamy and heatless alcove of what we call the best of thought.
• 1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the SunThey lay quietly as the morning advanced its little way, hid snug in their greenwood coign. —
• 1977, Stephen R. Donaldson, Lord Foul's Bane, ISBN 0-345-34865-6, page 212The wall was intricately labored—lined and coigned and serried with regular and irregular groups of windows, balconies, buttresses ...
• 2007, Stephen R. Donaldson, Fatal Revenant, ISBN 978-0-399-15446-1, page 3In sunshine as vivid as revelation, Linden Avery knelt on the stone of a low-walled coign like a balcony high in the outward face of Revelstone's watchtower.
2. The keystone of an arch
3. A wedge used in typesetting

Derived terms

• coign of vantage

Anagrams

• incog