Definition of "coaster"

coaster¹

/ˈkəʊstə/

noun
plural coasters
1. A person who originates from or inhabits a coastal area.
  Quotations
  People said, "Eldridge. Of course, he's an old Coaster," and Eldridge, the middle-aged shipping agent, at the beginning of every meal would say, "Chop, as we call it on the Coast," or handing a plate of onions, "Violets, we say on the Coast."
  1936, Graham Greene, “The Cargo Ship”, in Journey Without Maps, 1st US edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, part 1, page 27
2. (slang, dated) A prostitute, especially one of European descent, plying her trade in Chinese port towns.
  Quotations
  I think you can say this much, that from these traces of callus I'd venture she was once a ballet dancer—and later got her living otherwise—as a coaster perhaps.
  1932, [Francis] Van Wyck Mason, The Branded Spy Murders, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, page 65
  Gently again, he raised his hand to tap on the smooth white panels of the coaster’s door, but once more his interview with Ruby Braunfeld was postponed.
  1933, [Francis] Van Wyck Mason, The Shanghai Bund Murders, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, page 51
  Once engaged to be married, Lily and Doc have been separated for more than five years because of Doc's jealous reaction to a ploy Lily had used to test his love. They meet, by chance, on the Shanghai Express. Lily has become a "coaster", a vamp who travels along the China coast looking for men to victimize, and Doc has thrown himself into his work as a British medical officer.
  1993, Gina Marchetti, “The Threat of Captivity: The Bitter Tea of General Yen and Shanghai Express”, in Romance and the “Yellow Peril”: Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Romance, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, page 59
  I have studied your astrological chart and it fills me with more concern than hatred. If you stay in China, I fear you will end up a coaster.
  2000, Charles Busch, Shanghai Moon: A Comic Melodrama, New York, N.Y., London: Samuel French
3. (nautical)
  1. A sailor (especially the master or pilot of a vessel) who travels only in coastal waters.
    Quotations
    Thus, with ſhort Plummets Heav'ns deep will we ſound, / That vaſt Abyſs where humane Wit is drown'd! / In our ſmall Skiff we muſt not launce too far; / We here but Coaſters, not Diſcov'rers are.
    1669 June (first performance), John Dryden, Tyrannick Love, or, The Royal Martyr. […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1670, Act IV, scene i, page 43
    If you question a seaman on the subject, whether mere coaster or circumnavigator, he will tell you that in a snow-storm, because of its constant eddyings and gyrations, frequent trimming of sails is more necessary than in any other gale, and that to steer a straight and steady course under such circumstances is for the time simply impossible.Quoting an article entitled “Nether-Lochaber” in The Inverness Courier (17 March 1881).
    1881 April, “Snow Storm Gales”, in Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, volume XVI, number CLXXXIII, London: Edward Stanford, […], page 59
  2. A merchant vessel that stays in coastal waters, especially one that travels between ports of the same country.
    Quotations
    His father was skipper of a small coaster, from Bristol, and dying, left him, when quite young, to the care of his mother, by whose exertions he received a common-school education, passing his winters in school and his summers in the coasting trade, until his seventeenth year, when he left home to go upon foreign voyages.
    1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., chapter XXIII, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], page 245
    The single line to Exmouth Docks curves round the back of the goods yard. […] The docks can handle vessels of up to 700 tons; on the day of my visit an English coaster was discharging coal and a Dutch coaster arrived with a cargo of wood pulp from Sweden.
    1960 May, R. C. Riley, “The Coastal Branches of South-East Devon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, page 298
    Overhead, the black flag with the white skull-and-crossbones symbolizing defiance of radio regulations fluttered limply atop the two-hundred-foot mast mounted on the converted coaster from which they operated.
    1969, John Brunner, chapter IX, in Double, Double, London: Gateway, Hachette, published 2011
4. (Canada, US) Short for coaster trout (“the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Lake Superior and Maine”).
5. (US) A cow from the coastal part of Texas.
  Quotations
  The ranch's rangy coasters, the only saleable cattle they then held, could not compete with cattle from a growing number of Midwest farmer-feeders or with competitors stocking the northern ranges.
  2020, Michael M. Miller, XIT: A Story of Land, Cattle, and Capital in Texas and Montana, page 119
  But our market required a better quality than coasters and Mexican cattle, and we turned back up the country.
  2021, Ernest Haycox, Karl May, Zane Grey, 50 Westerns

coaster²

/ˈkəʊstə/

noun
plural coasters
1. Agent noun of coast: one who coasts.
  1. (Australia, slang) An itinerant person who shirks work but still seeks food and lodging; a loafer, a sundowner.
  2. (US, winter sports) A person who uses a sled or toboggan to slide down a slope covered with ice or snow; a sledder, a tobogganist.
    Quotations
    It was cold but still, and Polly trotted down the smooth, snow-covered mall, humming to herself, and trying not to feel homesick. The coasters were at it with all their might, and she watched them, till her longing to join the fun grew irresistible.
    1869–1870, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Polly’s Troubles”, in An Old-Fashioned Girl, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1870, page 42
  3. One who succeeds while making only a minimal effort.
    Quotations
    In Prashar's opinion, there are two types of manager: "coasters, who coast along in a job, and sprinters, who have a challenge, deal with it and then move on."
    2019, Santiago Iñiguez, In an Ideal Business, page 155
2. Something that coasts or is used to coast.
  1. (dated) A small stand or tray, sometimes with wheels, used to pass something such as a decanter or wine bottle around a tabletop.
  2. (by extension)
    A small, flat or tray-like object on which a bottle, cup, glass, mug, etc., is placed to protect a table surface from drink spills, heat, or water condensation.
    (computing, slang) A useless compact disc or DVD, such as one that was burned incorrectly or has become corrupted.
  3. (US, informal) Short for rollercoaster.
  4. (US, winter sports) A sled or toboggan.

Definition of "coaster"

coaster1

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coaster2

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coaster¹

coaster²