▪ I. † coact, ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. L. coact-us, pa. pple. of coagĕre, cōgĕre; see next.]
Compelled, constrained, forced. a. of persons.
| c 1430 Lydg. Bochas iii. vii. (1554) 79 a, They were coacte after peace to seke. 1487 Newminster Cartul. (Surtees) 263 Not coact nor constrayned. |
b. of things: Done under compulsion, forced.
| 1610 Bp. Carleton Jurisd. 119 The society ought not to be coact but voluntarie. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. i. ii. (1636) 85 For the conversion of these..seemeth to be coact. |
Hence † coactly adv.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 166 b, Mans will..worketh voluntaryly, not coactly. |
▪ II. coact, v.
(kəʊˈækt)
[f. L. coact- ppl. stem of coagĕre, cōgĕre to drive together, collect, contract, compel; or, in pa. pple., f. prec. + -ed.]
I. † 1. a. trans. To compel, constrain, force, coerce. Obs. exc. as in b.
Orig. used only in pa. pple. = coact ppl. a. i.
| c 1400 Test. Love iii. (1560) 295/1 Neyther is coacted ne constrayned. 1494 Fabyan v. cxl. 124 They lost the field, and were coactyd to flee. 1570 Diurn. Occur. (1833) 189 Vncompellit or coactit be ony manner of persone. 1651 Raleigh's Ghost 242 Vertue coacted and forced, is not vertue. |
b. To exercise control upon.
| 1855 Ess. Intuitive Morals 95 As this supersensible world is the background and substans of the phenomenal world, whose laws..it coacts. |
† 2. To restrain, confine. Obs. rare.
| c 1520 State Lett. in Burnet Hist. Ref. II. 90 Not limited and coacted within any such bounds. 1529 Lyndesay Compl. Lyndesay 163 Ȝe sall to no man be coactit. |
† 3. To draw together, contract; to collect, concentrate. Obs. rare.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man iv. 54 [The muscles] coact, and make straite the brest strongly. 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 44 The virtue of the earth coacted into one plant. |
II. [f. co- + act v.]
† 4. To enact together with others. Obs. rare.
| 1588 Allen Admon. 4 She enforced vniust lawes, partly made by her supposed father..and partely coacted by herself and her complices. |
5. intr. To act together. rare.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 118 If I tell how these two did coact. a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 700/1 A device consisting of two parts which coäct to give to the piece swaged between them the desired form. |