Coart

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaically, to press or force something into a smaller, more restricted space or limit
2. An obsolete verb meaning to narrow, compress, or hem in something so that it is tightly confined
3. Old-fashioned term for squeezing or restricting a thing so that it is held within tight bounds

Etymology: The surprising part is that this word is a near-twin of "coward" that took a different path. Its underlying sense is "to press into a narrow space." English borrowed it from Medieval Latin "coartare," meaning "to confine," built from the prefix "co-" ("together") and "artare," "to press tight," from Latin "artus," "narrow" or "close." The sense is physical before it is social: to coart someone or something was to hem it in and restrict its room to move. The verb is now obsolete, and it survives mostly in older legal and literary writing, where "coarted" can mean "restricted" or "limited." "Coward" has a different origin, from Old French "coart," which combined "coue" ("tail") with a suffix and described an animal turning tail. The two words look alike only because the French form of "coart" also gave rise to "coward," which is why the spellings overlap.