14 August 2013

coquette

[koh-ket]

noun

1. a woman who flirts lightheartedly with men to win their admiration and affection; flirt.
verb (used without object)
2. to coquet.
Origin:
1605–15; < French, feminine of coquet

Related forms
co·quet·tish, adjective

Can be confused: coquette, croquet, croquette.

Synonyms
1. tease, vamp.

Usage note
See -ette.

Today’s aphorism

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.

– Yogi Berra

On this day

14 August 1248 – construction begins on the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

14 August 1880 – construction of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany is finally completed … 632 years after commencement.

14 August 1947 – Pakistan Independence Day. At the stroke of midnight (14/15 August), India was partitioned and the nation of Pakistan created, independent of British and Indian rule.

14 August 1956 – death of Bertolt Brecht, German playwright, writer and theatre practitioner.

14 August 1963 – Considered to be the founding documents of Australia’s indigenous land rights (native title) movement, the first Bark Petition was presented to the Australian Government’s House of Representatives by Jock Nelson, Member for the Northern Territory on behalf of the Yolngu people of Yirrkala. The second Bark Petition was presented to the House of Representatives by then Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell. The petitions were ochre paintings on bark and signed by 13 clan leaders of the Yolngu region (Gove peninsula), protesting the Commonwealth Government granting mining rights to Nabalco on Yolngu land . The petitions resulted in a parliamentary inquiry that recommended compensation be paid to the Yolngu people. It was the first recognition of native title in Australia.