(a.) Shrinking from approach or familiarity; reserved; bashful; shy; modest; -- usually applied to women, sometimes with an implication of coquetry.
(a.) Soft; gentle; hesitating.
(v. t.) To allure; to entice; to decoy.
(v. t.) To caress with the hand; to stroke.
(v. i.) To behave with reserve or coyness; to shrink from approach or familiarity.
(v. i.) To make difficulty; to be unwilling.
Example Sentences:
(1) But when you ask Lewis what exactly the Euston Project is, the editor-in-chief, a supremely confident showman, is irritatingly coy.
(2) Right now he's working on another sitcom for the BBC – he's coy about what, precisely.
(3) He often seems mysteriously amused, cocking an eyebrow and pulling a coy, wouldn’t-you-like-to-know smirk, but he likes to laugh out loud, too.
(4) I ll keep one eyes on u spurs hv a good luck this season #COYS 💋🙏👊❤ September 2, 2013 8.51pm BST This is what Assou-Ekotto's got to say about developments.
(5) Naomi Gryn with baby Sadie Joy, who was born by elective caesarean on 31 October At first I, too, was coy about telling anyone that I was pregnant.
(6) The commercial coyness is long gone, and moves to monetise the audience with new forms of advertising have often provoked backlashes.
(7) Asked about his future plans, Götze, whose contract with Bayern runs out in 2017, remained coy.
(8) While the Koch brothers remain coy about their candidate preferences, a number of billionaire donors in the Koch network, including hedge fund chieftains Paul Singer and Robert Mercer, have either made large donations to Super Pacs supporting candidates, or are expected to do so.
(9) The Labour manifesto is a little more coy: "To encourage freedom of speech and access to information, we will bring forward new legislation on libel to protect the right of defendants to speak freely."
(10) He won't reveal much about the new series, beyond a coy, "Well, there's a reunion that doesn't necessarily go to plan.
(11) His mother is a lawyer, and although there have been coy references to what his father does (along the lines of "something to do with commodities") he's actually a vice president of Morgan Stanley.
(12) But what’s damaging the lives of millions of schoolgirls and women is not daft and coy terms for periods, but being unable to talk about them at all, or being so ashamed that they have to dry their sanitary cloths under the beds or in the damp, getting urinary infections or worse.
(13) When asked about their actual prospects in the Senate and House of Representatives, both became coy.
(14) I met her, and I can only say that for a couple of hours she was smart, honest and a great talker – there was no fuss, no coyness, no sham and no act.
(15) This is idealistic stuff at the heart of his "Communitarian Conservatism" but one increasingly senses that it is theology which really underpins the argument, and that Bond is being coy about his own Anglicanism.
(16) Cameron, on the other hand, is less coy about who came out on top.
(17) Security and defence officials are coy about what they know of specific attacks.
(18) The replication of an avian influenza A, Fowl plague virus (FPV), Ulster 73 strain, was studied in chick embryo fibroblasts, assumed to be the natural host, and in cells of different origin such as LLC-MK2, Hep-2, Vero, KB and Mc Coy.
(19) He is coy when asked whether he was also approached about a senior boardroom role at HSBC around the same time, but frank about the choice he faced when the candidate for the RBS job – former Standard Chartered boss Mervyn, now Lord, Davies – pulled out.
(20) Chlamydia trachomatis strains were isolated from the endocervix by the Mc Coy technique in 31 (13.4%) of 232 women aged 18 to 26 years.
Coyly
Definition:
(adv.) In a coy manner; with reserve.
Example Sentences:
(1) Though the thought of a Panama team listening to the USA team huddle coyly sharing their secrets is a rather sweet thought.
(2) With the Eiffel Tower poking coyly over the horizon, it was the most French of settings for the latest instalment in Britain's spectacular summer of sport, in the wake of Andy Murray's Wimbledon, the Lions' win, and Justin Rose's victory in the US Open.
(3) "You might try to characterise this as a change of mind," says Lyons coyly.
(4) This is too coyly referred to as the “social dimension” of higher education.
(5) With Murdoch himself present, Cameron gave an early-evening keynote speech to a "CEO summit" organised by the Times – although the event programme published on the newspaper's website coyly described him as an unnamed "senior cabinet minister".
(6) For three years Heathrow has coyly danced around the issue like a spurned lover: dumped and bruised by the incoming government, why would it express its desires so forthrightly again?
(7) Not coyly hinted at, as had been the way previously, but dealt with head-on in the most matter-of-fact manner.
(8) I think I may have been known to wear an Iron Maiden T-shirt," he adds coyly.
(9) A younger supporter, Lauren Wojtowicz – who smiled coyly and refused to answer when asked who she voted for on Tuesday but admitted she wasn’t a Republican – said that she came away from Kasich’s victory speech “quite impressed”.
(10) Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton coyly batted away questions over any White House succession plan during a mutually appreciative interview on Sunday.
(11) Advertising, of course, is not allowed on the BBC, so the corporation was coyly insisting that the product had not actually been named – it is full name is Duchy Originals.
(12) He was eventually handed a 60-day ban, lifted on appeal, for saying of the match official: "Every time he signalled a foul he looked over coyly at me.
(13) At the end of his reign in 2009, he coyly described his role to Mark Lawson as "that sort of American 'showrunner' position", but provided a helpful job description: "To establish the tone of the show."
(14) Visits to nearby fast-food shops are banned, even on the way home, and hugging has been ruled unacceptable lest, as Wilshaw coyly puts it, "boys use it as an opportunity to do things they shouldn't do".
(15) The IMF coyly attributes the recovery to "easier credit conditions and renewed confidence".
(16) It has also been one of the most coyly sidestepped topics by the company's executives.
(17) Thank you, thank you Dave,” she trembled, coyly blowing him a kiss while the Tory backbenchers half-heartedly cheered in an effort to make this union seem something other than the product of a fevered and desperate imagination.
(18) Karimova has coyly refused to rule out a presidential bid herself, even though it has always been a long shot.
(19) Watching David and Ed coyly promise to nominate each other as their second voting preference in Jon Snow's Channel 4 television debate (cruelly scheduled against Blair's book launch on the Beeb) she seemed to be on to something.
(20) Coyly underselling its appeal There’s a bit in Evans’s introduction to the manifesto where she says “Ukip’s policies have been developed not to catch the public imagination”, which seems an odd way to go about attracting votes.