What does "coil" mean?

Coil: To encircle and hold with, or as with, coils. [Obs. or R.] T. Edwards.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To wind itself cylindrically or spirally; to form a coil; to wind; -- often with about or around. You can see his flery serpents . . . Coiting, playing in the water. Longfellow.
  2. 3.A ring, series of rings, or spiral, into which a rope, or other like thing, is wound. The wild grapevines that twisted their coils from trec to tree. W. Irving.
  3. 4.Fig.: Entanglement; toil; mesh; perplexity.
  4. 5.A series of connected pipes in rows or layers, as in a steam heating apparatus. Induction coil. (Elec.) See under Induction. -- Ruhmkorff's coil (Elec.), an induction coil, sometimes so called from Ruhmkorff (, a prominent manufacturer of the apparatus.
  5. 6.A noise, tumult, bustle, or confusion. [Obs.] Shak.

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