Coup, W C

Coup, W C

▪ American circus manager
born 1837, Mount Pleasant, Ind., U.S.
died 1895, Jacksonville, Fla.

      American businessman, cofounder and manager of P.T. Barnum's (Barnum, P.T.) “Greatest Show on Earth.”

      Working his way from circus roustabout to manager, Coup, in 1872, persuaded P.T. Barnum to end his retirement and join him in starting the circus that later became “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Barnum furnished his name and capital, and Coup provided executive talent. In his first season with Barnum, Coup developed a new system of loading circus wagons onto railroad flatcars. The cars were joined by metal plates, and the circus wagons boarded from the end of the train and were moved forward toward the front rather than onto each car separately. He also arranged cut-rate railroad excursions on circus days. After he left Barnum in 1875, Coup ran an aquarium in New York City, took a circus on the road, and finally retired to a farm near Delavan, Wis.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • coup — coup …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • coup — [ ku ] n. m. • colp 1080; lat. pop. colpus, class. colaphus, gr. kolaphos I ♦ 1 ♦ Mouvement par lequel un corps vient en heurter un autre; impression (ébranlement, bruit...) produite par ce qui heurte. ⇒ choc, ébranlement, heurt, tamponnement.… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • coup — COUP. s. mas. Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant, le perçant, le divisant, etc. Grand coup. Petit coup. Rude coup. Coup léger. Coup pesant. La force, la pesanteur du coup. Coup qui entre bien avant. Coup de poing. Coup de… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • coup — COUP. s. m. Impression que fait un corps sur un autre en le frappant, le perçant, le divisant &c. Grand coup. petit coup. rude coup. coup leger. coup pesant. la force, la pesanteur du coup. coup qui entre bien avant. coup de poing. coup de pied,… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • coup — Coup, ou Coupau, Que nous disons Cocu, c est celuy duquel la femme s abbandonne à autre, Curuca. Coup, {{t=g}}kopis,{{/t}} Copis, huius copidis genus est gladij, mucro, bipennis, securis, {{t=g}}kopos.{{/t}} Copos signifie autant que Labor,… …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • coup — [ ku ] noun count ** 1. ) coup or coup d état an occasion when a group of people takes control of a country, usually by means of military force: a military/army coup: There has been a series of military coups since the country gained independence …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Coup De Cœur — Cet article a pour sujet le film américain. Pour une définition de l expression « coup de cœur », voir l’article coup de cœur du Wiktionnaire. Coup de cœur (One from the Heart) est un film américain de Francis Ford Coppola sorti en 1982 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Coup — (k[=oo]), n. [F., fr.L. colaphus a cuff, Gr. ko lafos.] 1. A sudden stroke delivered with promptness and force; used also in various ways to convey the idea of an unexpected, clever, and successful tactic or stratagem. [1913 Webster +PJC] 2. A… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Coup d'œil — (or coup d oeil) is a term taken from French, that more or less corresponds to the words glimpse or glance in English. The literal meaning is stroke of [the] eye . It is mostly used in a military context, where the coup d œil refers to the… …   Wikipedia

  • coup — [ku:] n [Date: 1700 1800; : French; Origin: hit, stroke ] 1.) a sudden and sometimes violent attempt by citizens or the army to take control of the government = coup d état ▪ Haiti s first elected president was deposed in a violent military coup …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Coup — v. i. To make a coup. Woe to the Sioux if the Northern Cheyennes get a chance to coup ! F. Remington. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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