different between coast vs rivage

English

Etymology

From Middle English coste, cooste (“rib", also "shore”), from Old French coste, from Latin costa (“rib, side, edge”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: k?st, IPA^(key): /ko?st/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: k?st, IPA^(key): /k??st/
• Rhymes: -??st

Noun

coast (plural coasts)

1. 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.

2. (obsolete) The side or edge of something. [15th-18th c.]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Isaac Newton to this entry?)

3. (obsolete) A region of land; a district or country. [14th-17th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale (translator), Bible, 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 […]

   • 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.

4. (obsolete) A region of the air or heavens. [14th-17th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III iii

     the learned Merlin, well could tell, / Vnder what coast of heauen the man did dwell […]

Hypernyms

• (edge of land meeting an ocean, sea, gulf, or bay): shore, shoreline

Hyponyms

• (edge of land meeting an ocean, sea, gulf, or bay): oceanfront, seashore

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

coast (third-person singular simple present coasts, present participle coasting, simple past and past participle coasted)

1. (intransitive) To glide along without adding energy; to allow a vehicle to continue moving forward after disengaging the engine or ceasing to apply motive power.
2. (intransitive, nautical) To sail along a coast.
   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations

     The Ancients coasted only in their Navigations.

3. (intransitive) To make a minimal effort; to continue to do something in a routine way, without initiative or effort.
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

     Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To conduct along a coast or river bank.

   • The Indians […] coasted me a long the river.

7. (US, dialect) To slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.

Translations

Anagrams

• Ascot, Casto, Coats, Costa, Cotas, Sacto, Tosca, ascot, catso, coats, costa, octas, scato-, scoat, tacos

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman rivage, Middle French rivage, from rive + -age.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???v?d?/

Noun

rivage (plural rivages)

1. (now rare, poetic) A coast, a shore.
   • 1892, Michael Field, "The Death of Procris"

     […] leaves have taken flight

     From yon

     Slim seedling-birch on the rivage, the flock

     Of herons has the quiet of solitude […]

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Recollections of the Arabian Nights

     From the green rivage many a fall / Of diamond rillets musical.

2. (law, Britain, historical) A duty paid to the crown for the passage of vessels on certain rivers.

Anagrams

• Argive, virgae

French

Etymology

From rive +? -age, ultimately from Latin ripaticus (“moorage, shore”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i.va?/
• Homophone: rivages
• Hyphenation: ri?vage
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

rivage m (plural rivages)

1. bank; shore; coast

Further reading

• “rivage” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• virage

Old French

Noun

rivage m (oblique plural rivages, nominative singular rivages, nominative plural rivage)

1. riverbank or shore

Descendants

• ? English: rivage
• French: rivage

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (rivage, supplement)
• rivage on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub