All 3 Uses of
coax
in
The Magic Mountain
- She patted his broad captain's hand, still resting on the table where it had fallen, and coaxed him with the suggestion that one could always order something else, something warm, if he liked and if the chef could be talked into it.†
Chpt 7.3 *coaxed = tried to obtain a result through gentle and careful effort -- often gently persuaded
- Just for the pure joy of it, since he was quite alone on the meadow, he let his fingers play at the stops of a woodwind he held to his lips, a clarinet or reed pipe-, from which he coaxed gentle, nasal tones, one after the other, purely at random, and yet in a satisfying sequence that rose carelessly into the deep blue sky, beneath which the foliage of a few solitary birches and ashes flickered in the sun as the breeze brushed past.†
Chpt 7.7
- They coaxed and flattered their glass.†
Chpt 7.8
Definitions:
-
(1)
(coax as in: coax her to join us) try to obtain a result through gentle and careful effort -- often gentle persuasion
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Less commonly, coax is a short for coaxial cable (a type of electrical cable used to transmit data, the internet, video and voice communications). Coaxial cables have a conducting wire surrounded by an insulating layer surrounded by a shield. The insulating layer and shield surround a common axis--the conducting wire.
In classic literature, you may see coax used as a synonym for caress or fondle.