/kəʊst; kost/
n
1 land bordering the sea 海岸
*The ship was wrecked on the Kent coast. 该船在肯特海岸遇难.
* islands off the Scottish coast 苏格兰沿海的岛屿
* a village on the south coast, eg of England 南海岸的村子（如英格兰南海岸）
* spend a day by the coast, ie the seaside 在海滨度一日
* [attrib 作定语] a coast road, ie one that follows the line of the coast 沿海岸线的道路. =>illus 见插图.
2 (idm 习语) the ,coast is `clear (infml 口) there is no danger of being seen or caught 没有被发现或被捉住的危险
*They waited until the coast was clear before loading the stolen goods into the van. 他们待四下无人时就把赃物装进货车.

NOTE ON USAGE 用法
*Coast and shore both indicate land lying beside large areas of water. *coast和shore均指邻接大片水域的陆地. Shore suggests the limits of a lake or sea, or a narrow strip of land next to the water *shore指湖或海的边缘或水边的狭长的陆地
*They camped on the shore of Lake Bala. 他们在巴拉湖畔宿营.
* The survivors swam to the shore. 幸存者游上了岸. The land at the edge of a river or stream is a bank. 江河或溪流边上的陆地叫做bank. *Coast can refer to a wider area of land or a long stretch of land next to the sea or ocean *coast可指邻接海或洋的较宽阔的或狭长的地域
*We live at/on the coast. 我们住在海滨.
* the Atlantic coast of South America 南美洲的大西洋海岸. The beach is usually the sloping part of the shore often covered by the sea at high tide *beach通常指shore的倾斜部分, 往往在涨潮时被潮水漫过
*The beach was crowded with sunbathers. 沙滩上挤满了作日光浴的人们. The seaside is a coastal area where people go on holiday *seaside是指人们前往度假的沿海地区
*Brighton is a famous seaside resort. 布赖顿是着名的海滨胜地.
* We're spending August at the seaside. 我们八月份要在海滨度过.

/kəʊst; kost/
v
1 [I, Ipr, Ip]
(a) move, esp downhill (in a car, on a bicycle, etc), without using power （不使用动力, 尤指向山下）移动, 滑行（乘汽车、骑自行车等）
*coast down a hill (ie in neutral gear) to save petrol 滑行下山以省汽油（如使用空挡）
* coasting along on a bicycle, ie without pedalling 骑在自行车上滑行（不用脚蹬）.
(b) (fig 比喻) make progress without much effort 不很费力而取得进展
*The Socialists are coasting to victory (ie winning easily) in the election. 社会党人在选举中会轻易获胜.
2 [I] sail (from port to port) along a coast 沿着海岸（从一港口到另一港口）航行.