coign of vantage

a coign of vantage

dated A beneficial spot or position, especially for viewing something. "Coign" is an archaic spelling of "quoin," the outside corner of a building or wall. My office affords me a fine coign of vantage, as I can watch everyone on the floor without them knowing,
See also: coign, of, vantage
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

coign of vantage

a favourable position for observation or action. literary
The literal sense of a coign of vantage is ‘a projecting corner of a wall or building’; the phrase appears in Shakespeare 's Macbeth in Duncan's description of the nesting places of the swifts at Macbeth's castle. The word quoin meaning ‘an external angle of a building’ still exists in English, but the archaic spelling coign survives mainly in this phrase.
See also: coign, of, vantage
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a coign of vantage
  • coign
  • vantage
  • any fule kno
  • put asunder
  • another pair of eyes
  • a fresh pair of eyes
  • go out of use
  • au naturel
  • of that ilk
References in periodicals archive
Coign of Vantage, for me at least, is the finest of his work.
Our art lovers try the write-a-label challenge
From my coign of vantage, however-and in the experience of other New York clinicians--the system routinely defaults to the dictum: "When in doubt, transfer out." Many staff members are ill at ease caring for the dying.
The last transfer. (letters)
Like its sister novels, the third book of Eleanora Tate's South Carolina Trilogy exposes the intricate web of interconnections between family and community problems; simultaneously, it moves in a new direction to explore from an African-American child's coign of vantage increasingly complex issues of personal and social conscience.
African-American children and the case for community: Eleanora Tate's South Carolina trilogy