All 4 Uses of
coquette
in
Little Women
- Annie Moffat's foolish lessons in coquetry came into her mind, and the love of power, which sleeps in the bosoms of the best of little women, woke up all of a sudden and took possession of her.†
p. 244.9coquetry = casual playfulness that arouses sexual interest
- With her pretty hair tucked into a little cap, arms bared to the elbow, and a checked apron which had a coquettish look in spite of the bib, the young housewife fell to work, feeling no doubts about her success, for hadn't she seen Hannah do it hundreds of times?†
p. 294.8 *coquettish = casually playful in a way that arouses sexual interest of men
- One of the girls kept laughing affectedly, and saying, "Now Professor," in a coquettish tone, and the other pronounced her German with an accent that must have made it hard for him to keep sober.†
p. 361.8
- If she had even said 'I hate you' in a petulant or coquettish tone, he would have laughed and rather liked it, but the grave, almost sad, accent in her voice made him open his eyes, and ask quickly... "Why, if you please?"†
p. 438.9
Definitions:
-
(1)
(coquette) a woman who is casually playful in a way that arouses sexual interest of men but does not imply serious flirtationCoquette is a French word that is similar to the word flirt. There are two primary differences:
- Coquette only refers to a woman whereas flirt can refer to either sex.
- To say someone is coquettish implies that she is just being playful and does not intend sexual relations with the man with whom she is interacting; whereas when a woman is described as flirting, the word does not indicate whether she is just being playful or she wants to instigate sexual relations.
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, coquette can refer to a species of bird or to a city name.