coup de grâce
noun/kuː də ɡɹɑs/ · /kuː də ɡɹɑː/
Etymology Late 17th century. Borrowed from French coup de grâce (“finishing blow”). Originally referring to a merciful stroke putting a fatally wounded person out of misery or to the shot delivered to the head of a prisoner after facing a firing squad.
1
A final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal.
- After we had row'd, or rather driven about a League and a Half, as we reckon'd it, a raging Wave, Mountain-like, came rolling a-ſtern of us, and plainly bad us expect the Coup-de-Grace.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 50:
- The expression of his face was an appeal; his eyes were full of prayer. […] For what, indeed? For that which we accord to even the meanest creature without sense to demand it, denying it only to the wretched of our own race: for the blessed release, the rite of uttermost compassion, the coup de grâce.1889, Ambrose Bierce, The Coup de Grâce:
1 more example
- […] they just went "Right, activate radar, hello everybody, we can see you, you can't see us", and plastered everything in 14-and-16-inch gunfire until everything was broken, burning, and not able to fire back, and then they popped out for the coup de grâce.2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 30:36 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2022:
2
Broadly A remarkable finishing action.
- Related terms
- put someone out of their misery