All 44 Uses
coy
in
Ulysses, by James Joyce
(Edited)
- —I could not leave thee... —Afterwits, miss Douce promised coyly.
Chpt 11coyly = in a teasing or flirtatiously reserved manner
- She draws from behind, ogling, and shows coyly her bloodied clout.
Chpt 15coyly = play-acting modesty or flirtation (but the object revealed is raw and bodily)
- He is a rather quaint fellow on the whole, coy though not feebleminded in the medical sense.
Chpt 15coy = intentionally reserved
- THE NYMPH: (Coyly, through parting fingers) There?
Chpt 15 *coyly = pretending to be shy
Uses with a meaning too rare to warrant foucs:
- Under the upswelling tide he saw the writhing weeds lift languidly and sway reluctant arms, hising up their petticoats, in whispering water swaying and upturning coy silver fronds.
Chpt 3coy = part of a name
- Or through M'Coy.
Chpt 4
- No. M'Coy.
Chpt 5
- —Hello, M'Coy.
Chpt 5
- —Just keeping alive, M'Coy said.
Chpt 5
- —I must try to get out there, M'Coy said.
Chpt 5
- He moved a little to the side of M'Coy's talking head.
Chpt 5
- —One of the best, M'Coy said.
Chpt 5
- M'Coy's changed voice said.
Chpt 5
- M'Coy said.
Chpt 5
- M'Coy nodded, picking at his moustache stubble.
Chpt 5
- —Tell you what, M'Coy said.
Chpt 5
- —Right, M'Coy said brightly.
Chpt 5
- Just C. P. M'Coy will do.
Chpt 5
- Wish I hadn't met that M'Coy fellow.
Chpt 5
- I might have tried to work M'Coy for a pass to Mullingar.
Chpt 5
- —I met M'Coy this morning, Mr Bloom said.
Chpt 6
- And you might put down M'Coy's name too.
Chpt 6
- I saw to that, M'Coy.
Chpt 6
- On his annual bend, M Coy said.
Chpt 8
- —Goodnight, M'Coy said abruptly.
Chpt 10
- He followed M'Coy out across the tiny square of Crampton court.
Chpt 10
- —I know, M'Coy said.
Chpt 10
- Going down the path of Sycamore street beside the Empire music hall Lenehan showed M'Coy how the whole thing was.
Chpt 10
- M'Coy peered into Marcus Tertius Moses' sombre office, then at O'Neill's clock.
Chpt 10
- While he waited in Temple bar M'Coy dodged a banana peel with gentle pushes of his toe from the path to the gutter.
Chpt 10
- —Wonder what he's buying, M'Coy said, glancing behind.
Chpt 10
- —He's dead nuts on sales, M'Coy said.
Chpt 10
- Bartell d'Arcy sang and Benjamin Dollard... —I know, M'Coy broke in.
Chpt 10
- Cold joints galore and mince pies... —I know, M'Coy said.
Chpt 10
- M'Coy's white face smiled about it at instants and grew grave.
Chpt 10
- He glanced sideways in the sunlight at M'Coy.
Chpt 10
- On Grattan bridge Lenehan and M'Coy, taking leave of each other, watched the carriages go by.
Chpt 10
- M'Coy valise.
Chpt 11
- That gouger M'Coy stopping me to say nothing.
Chpt 13
- A panel of fog rolls back rapidly, revealing rapidly in the jurybox the faces of Martin Cunningham, foreman, silkhatted, Jack Power, Simon Dedalus, Tom Kernan, Ned Lambert, John Henry Menton Myles Crawford, Lenehan, Paddy Leonard, Nosey Flynn, M'Coy and the featureless face of a Nameless One.
Chpt 15
- After him freshfound the hue and cry zigzag gallops in hot pursuit of follow my leader: 65 C, 66 C, night watch, John Henry Menton, Wisdom Hely, V. B. Dillon, Councillor Nannetti, Alexander Keyes, Larry O'rourke, Joe Cuffe Mrs O'dowd, Pisser Burke, The Nameless One, Mrs Riordan, The Citizen, Garryowen, Whodoyoucallhim, Strangeface, Fellowthatsolike, Sawhimbefore, Chapwithawen, Chris Callinan, Sir Charles Cameron, Benjamin Dollard, Lenehan, Bartell d'Arcy, Joe Hynes, red Murray, editor Brayden, T. M. Healy, Mr Justice Fitzgibbon, John Howard Parnell, the reverend Tinned Salmon, Professor Joly, Mrs Breen, Denis Breen, Theodore Purefoy, Mina Purefoy, the Westland Row postmistress, C. P. M'Coy,
Chpt 15
- Not, of course, with a hole and corner scratch company or local ladies on the job, witness Mrs C P M'Coy type lend me your valise and I'll post you the ticket.
Chpt 16
- J. Lambert, Cornelius T. Kelleher, Joseph M'C Hynes, L. Boom, CP M'Coy,—M'lntosh and several others.
Chpt 16 *
- Nettled not a little by L. Boom (as it incorrectly stated) and the line of bitched type but tickled to death simultaneously by C. P. M'Coy and Stephen Dedalus B. A. who were conspicuous, needless to say, by their total absence (to say nothing of M'Intosh) L. Boom pointed it out to his companion B. A. engaged in stifling another yawn, half nervousness, not forgetting the usual crop of nonsensical howlers of misprints.
Chpt 16
Definitions:
-
(1)
(coy) playfully shy or subtly flirtatious; and/or, deliberately evasive to avoid giving information or making a commitmentWriters often use coy when someone acts shy or innocent in a playful way, while being aware of the effect—like giving a coy smile.
The word can also describe being deliberately evasive or withholding information, as in a coy answer that dodges the real question or a coy response that modestly downplays an accomplishment.
In many cases, the person is both playful and withholding at once, as when teasing someone with coy hints about a surprise without revealing what it is. - (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)