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Wiktionary

course

See also: 'course and coursé

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus and cour.

Noun

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course (plural courses)

  1. A sequence of events.
    The normal course of events seems to be just one damned thing after another.
    1. A normal or customary sequence.
      • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
        The course of true love never did run smooth.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
        Day and night, / Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, / Shall hold their course.
    2. A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.
    3. Any ordered process or sequence of steps.
    4. (education) A learning programme
      1. a series of lectures or lessons in a particular subject
        I need to take a French course.
        Synonym: class
      2. (UK, Ireland) an educational programme at a college or university leading to an academic degree or vocational qualification.
        What's your course in university?
        —Business studies. And you?
        • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎[2]:
          During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
      • 1992 August 21, Edwina Currie, Diary:
        Her course will be ‘Communication Studies with Theatre Studies’: God, how tedious, how pointless.
      • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
        Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
    5. (especially in medicine) A treatment plan.
    6. (cooking) A stage of a meal.
      We offer seafood as the first course.
    7. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.
  2. A path that something or someone moves along.
    His illness ran its course.
    1. The itinerary of a race.
      The cross-country course passes the canal.
    2. A racecourse.
    3. The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse.
    4. (sports) The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc.
    5. (golf) A golf course.
    6. (nautical) The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment.
      The ship changed its course 15 degrees towards south.
    7. (navigation) The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc.
      A course was plotted to traverse the ocean.
    8. (India, historical) The drive usually frequented by Europeans at an Indian station.
      • 1853, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield; or, Fellowship in the East, section II, page 124:
        It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore course, after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had happened in these six months!
  3. (nautical) The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast.
    Main course and mainsail are the same thing in a sailing ship.
  4. (in the plural, courses, obsolete, euphemistic) Menses.
    • 2018, Gail Kern Paster, The Body Embarrassed‎[3], Cornell University, page 92:
      The bleeding body signifies as a shameful token of uncontrol, as a failure of physical self-mastery particularly associated with woman in her monthly "courses".
  5. A row or file of objects.
    1. (masonry) A row of bricks or blocks.
      On a building that size, two crews could only lay two courses in a day.
    2. (roofing) A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system.
    3. (textiles) In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows.
  6. (music) One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to be played together.
Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱers- (0 c, 47 e)
Descendants
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  • → Gulf Arabic: كورس (kōrs)
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
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Verb

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course (third-person singular simple present courses, present participle coursing, simple past and past participle coursed)

  1. To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).
    The oil coursed through the engine.
    Blood pumped around the human body courses throughout all its veins and arteries.
    • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:
      Sudden anger rose in him. “What I’m looking for,” he barked, “is to be left in peace.” His voice trembled with a rage far bigger than her intrusion merited, the rage which shocked him whenever it coursed through his nervous system, like a flood.
    • 2013 September 20, Martina Hyde, “Is the pope Catholic?”, in The Guardian:
      He is a South American, so perhaps revolutionary spirit courses through Francis's veins. But what, pray, does the Catholic church want with doubt?
  2. (transitive) To run through or over.
  3. (transitive) To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after.
  4. (transitive) To cause to chase after or pursue game.
    to course greyhounds after deer
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Alternative forms

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Adverb

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course (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Ellipsis of of course.
    • 1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:
      "Course it's mighty hard to tell till we've put out a few traps," said the former, "but it looks to me like we've struck it lucky."
    • 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Tell a Green Man Something”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 3 (1928–1935: The Big Apple), page 209:
      Course, my home wasn't exactly in Harlem […]

References

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  1. ^ “course”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present. (uses the notation ˈkȯrs, or in IPA [ˈkoɚs, ˈkɔɚs])
  2. ^ “course”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present. (uses the notation /kɔrs, koʊrs/)
  3. ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 13.36, page 368.

Anagrams

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English course.

Pronunciation

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Note: often realised as /kʰɔːs⁵⁵/ by younger speakers.

Noun

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course

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) course; learning programme (Classifier: 個／个 c)
    報course／报course [Cantonese]  ―  bou3 ko1 si2 [Jyutping]  ―  to apply for a course
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese) course; programme for treatment

References

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French

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Etymology

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From Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), with influence of Italian corsa.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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course f (plural courses)

  1. run, running
  2. race
  3. errand

Usage notes

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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course

  1. Alternative form of cours

Adjective

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course

  1. Alternative form of cours

Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”).

Noun

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course f (plural courses)

  1. (Jersey) course
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