coyote
verbEtymology Borrowed from Spanish coyote, from a Nahuan language, from Proto-Nahuan *koyoo-tl. Compare Chinook ki-o-tī.
1
To prospect for gold by manually digging holes into overlying earth, as into a hillside.
coyote
nounUS /kəˈjoʊ.ti/ · UK /kɔɪˈəʊt/
Etymology Borrowed from Spanish coyote, from a Nahuan language, from Proto-Nahuan *koyoo-tl. Compare Chinook ki-o-tī.
- Near Rio Frio we shot several handsome birds, and saw a cayjotte, or wild dog, which in size nearly approached the wolf.1824, William Bullock, Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico, page 119:
- The MWRC animal care specialists attempted to unimprint the coyotes first by limiting their human contact and putting them with other wild coyotes. The hand-raised coyotes, however, were ostracized by the wild coyotes […]1996, AnimaLife, volume 6, page 14:
2
US, Informal A smuggler of undocumented immigrants across the land border from Latin America into the United States of America.
- Jorge’s father had pawned his last four goats for $2,000 to help pay for their transit, another loan the family would have to repay at 100 percent interest. The coyote called at 10 p.m. — they would go that night.2020 July 23, Abrahm Lustgarten, “The Great Climate Migration”, in The New York Times:
- Derived terms
- anticoyote, coydog, coyote brush, coyote bush, coyote gourd, coyoteite, coyotelike, coyote melon, Coyote State, coyote time, coyote tobacco, coyote ugly, coywolf, dogote, hyote, quiet coyote, quiet coyote gesture, Wile E. Coyote, woyote
- Related terms
- coyotillo
- Hyponyms
- Belize coyote, California Valley coyote, Colima coyote, Durango coyote, Honduras coyote, Lower Rio Grande coyote, Mearns coyote, Mexican coyote, mountain coyote, northern coyote, Northeastern coyote, Northwest Coast coyote, Peninsula Coyote, Plains coyote, Salvador coyote, San Pedro Martir coyote, Southeastern coyote, Texas Plains coyote, Tiburón Island coyote