coast [ME] The Latin word costa meant ‘rib or side’, which is why coast meant ‘rib’ and ‘the side of the body’ from Anglo-Saxon days right up until the start of the 19th century. The sense is still found in French côte de porc (where the ^ stands for a lost ‘s’) for ‘pork chop’ referring to the rib bone, and in the word cutlet [E18th] ‘a little côte’. The phrase coast of the sea—meaning ‘side of the sea’—gave rise to the modern use, ‘the part of the land adjoining the sea’[LME]. The verb [LME] originally meant ‘to move along the edge of something’ and ‘to sail along the coast’. The coast is clear [M16th] originally signalled that there were no enemies or coastguards guarding a sea coast who would prevent an attempt to land or embark by sailors or smugglers.