coign of vantage

English

Alternative forms

• coigne of vantage

Noun

coign of vantage (plural coigns of vantage)

1. a good position for observation, judgment, criticism, action, etc.
   • 1818, Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian, page 70:

     ...it seemed as if the traders had occupied with nests, bearing the same proportion to the building, every buttress and coign of vantage, as the martlet in Macbeth’s Castle.

   • 1867: A description of the Theatre Royal, Cork (Illustrated London News, Vol LI, p.394)

     ...a spacious gallery, from which latter coign of vantage an excellent view of the stage is afforded

   • 1895 A description of the 1895-6 FA Cup First Round match between Southampton St. Mary's and Sheffield Wednesday at the Antelope Ground (David Bull, Bob Brunskill, Match of the Millennium, 2000)

     The enclosure was encircled by a dense and perfect sea of faces. Every coign of vantage had been monopolised, windows and house tops not excepted