Forms: α. 4–7 coyte, 5–6 (9) coite, 6 c(h)oytte, 7 coyt, coight, 6– coit. β. 7 quoite, quoyt(e, 6– quoit. γ. 6–7 quaite, 7 quayte, queit, 8 quait. [Of obscure etym.; the variation of form between coit, quoit, and quait prob. indicates a French origin.
Derivation from OF. coitier, quoitier ‘to prick, spur, incite, hasten,’ has been suggested, but it does not appear that this vb. had also the sense ‘to throw, hurl,’ which would be necessary to make the connection probable; and the sb. coite, quoite means only ‘prick (of spur), encounter, haste.’]
1. In orig. and widest sense (now only with ref. to the Greek and Roman discus), a flat disc of stone or metal, thrown as an exercise of strength or skill; spec. in mod. use, a heavy flattish ring of iron, slightly convex on the upper side and concave on the under, so as to give it an edge capable of cutting into the ground when it falls, if skilfully thrown. Also, the ring of rope used in deck-quoits (see 2).
α. c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 86/1. Coyter, or caster of a coyte, petreludus. Coyte, petreluda.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xx. 120. That men … schulden pleie … bi casting of coitis.
1530. Palsgr., 206/2. Coyte to playe with, palet. Coyle of stone, bricoteav.
1591. Harington, Orl. Fur., XIII. xxxiv. This like a coight at them Orlando tost.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 28. There is no part of it so broad, but you may cast a Coyte over it.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 56, ¶ 4. Some of them were tossing the Figure of a Coit.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., II. 393. Tossed the broad coite or took th’ inspiring ale.
β. c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XXIII. 388. Nestors sonne … got as farre before, As any youth can cast a quoyte.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, XXIII. 712. Tho’ ’tis not thine to hurl the distant Dart, The Quoit to toss.
1783. Crabbe, Village, I. Who … made the pond’rous quoit obliquely fall.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. i. They had learned to wrestle,… to pitch the bar or the quoit.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, II. XXIII. 360. As far as flies a quoit Thrown from the shoulder of a vigorous youth.
γ. 1560. [see b].
1658. J. Jones, trans. Ovid’s Ibis, 144. If Queit thou cast into the open air, let Queit thee kill like Hyacinth the fair.
1711. J. Greenwood, Eng. Gram., 188. Coit, quait.
† b. Phr. A quoit’s cast, distance, the distance to which a quoit is commonly thrown. Obs.
a. 1490. Botoner, Itin. (1778), 147. Distans per spacium coytys cast.
1560. Whitehorne, Ord. Souldiours, xxiv. It would scant be able to drive their pellettes a quaites caste.
a. 1604. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 10. The Welch Prophet could not see a quoits cast from him.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 57. Every acute reader … will be ready … to ding the book a coits distance from him.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XXIII. 648. Menelaus … fell A full quoit’s cast behind.
c. A curling-stone. rare.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 164. The stones used are called coits, or quoits, or coiting, or quoiting-stones.
2. pl. (rarely sing.) The sport of throwing the quoit or of playing with quoits; in the modern form of this the quoit is aimed at a pin stuck in the ground, and is intended to fall with the ring surrounding this, or to cut into the ground as near to it as possible. Deck-quoits, an imitation of this game, played on shipboard with rings of rope.
1388. Act 12 Rich. II., c. 6 § 1. Les jeues appelez coytes dyces [etc.].
1477. Rolls Parlt., VI. 188/1. No persone shuld use any unlawfull Pleys, as Dise, Coyte, Foteball.
1527. Galway Arch., 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 402. Plainge at choyttes or stonis.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., I. (1895), 57. Lewde, and vnlawfull games, as … tennyes, bolles, coytes.
1592. Lyly, Galathea, II. iv. I will now … play at quaites abroade.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. IV. 342. Keelpins, tronkes, coits … are the common recreations of countrey folks.
1708. W. King, Art of Cookery, 117.
| He that of feeble Nerves and Joints complains | |
| From Nine-pins, Coits, and from Trap-ball abstains. |
1841. Q. Rev., LXVII. 355. Devoting hours on hours to quoits, cricket, and so forth.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, III. 199. Quoit, tennis, ball—no games?
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 22. One of the best amusements provided on shipboard is ‘Quoits.’
3. transf. † a. A quoit-shaped stone or piece of metal. Obs. rare.
1593. P. Nichols, Drake Revived (1628), 78. Thirteene bars of siluer, and some fevv quoits of Gold. Ibid., 79. Promising to giue him a fine quoit of gold.
a. 1635. Corbet, Iter Bor., 114. No pompous weight Upon him, but a pebble, or a quayte.
b. The flat covering stone of a cromlech or cist; also, by extension, a cromlech or cist as a whole.
1753. Borlase, in Phil. Trans., XLVIII. 87. A flat rock … (which in our country [Cornwall] we call a quoit). Ibid. On the top of this quoit there is a remarkable incision.
1827. G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, Pref. 49. Under this Quoit I caused to be sunk a pit.
1867. Max Müller, Chips (1870), III. xiii. 291. In Bosprennis Cross there was a very large coit or cromlech.
1887. Baring-Gould, Red Spider, I. ii. 18. A rude granite slab … [which] had been the ‘quoit’ of a great prehistoric dolmen or cromlech.
† 4. A cast or throw. Obs. rare–1.
1706. George a Green, in Thoms, Prose Rom. (1858), II. 165. With such a tumbling quait, as we call a back somerset.
5. attrib. and Comb., as quoit-cast, -pitcher, -player, -playing, -thrower, etc.; quoit-like adj.
1538. Leland, Itin., VI. 56. A Coyte or Stone Cast beneth the Kinges Bridge.
1818. Keats, Endym., I. 306. They might watch the quoit-pitchers, intent On either side.
1871. Alabaster, Wheel of Law, 169. The quoit-like weapon (chakra) the emblem of power of India.
1887. Upcott, Introd. Gk. Sculpt., iv. 57. The most familiar of Myron’s works is the Quoit-thrower. Ibid. The quoit-player, who is stooping forward in attitude to throw.
