coax: [16] In the 16th and 17th century a cokes was a ‘simpleton, someone easily duped’ (it is not known where the word came from, although it might perhaps be related to cockney). To cokes someone was thus to ‘make a cokes of them, fool them’. This spelling survived until the 18th century, when it was supplanted by coax. The word’s meaning, meanwhile, had passed via ‘treat as a simpleton or pet’ and ‘fondle’ to ‘wheedle’.
coax (v.)
1580s, originally in slang phrase to make a coax of, from earlier noun coax, cox, cokes "a fool, ninny, simpleton" (1560s); modern spelling is 1706. Origin obscure, perhaps related to cock (n.1). Related: Coaxed; coaxing.
双语例句
1. He was delighted to coax the monoplane to 330 m.p.h.
这架单翼飞机在他的摆弄下时速达到了每小时330英里,他感到很高兴。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It took Louis until Easter to coax a grudging consent from the French King.
路易斯连哄带骗,直到复活节才勉强得到法国国王的许可。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The WPC talked yesterday of her role in trying to coax vital information from the young victim.
昨天,这名女警谈到自己在诱导年轻的受害人说出重要信息的过程中所起的作用。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He would stride on stage then proceed to coax the sweetest possible sounds out of his violin.