Meaning
A coil has two everyday meanings. It is the green spiral of mosquito repellent that you light at dusk and let smoulder through the night, and it is a roll of money, a stash that is kept hidden or saved up for something.
Senses
-
noun A mosquito coil: the green spiral of incense-like repellent you light at dusk and let smoulder to drive the mosquitoes away through the evening and night. A cheap, near-universal household essential, with its little stand, thin smoke and faint scent a fixture of the Jamaican evening.
-
Light di coil before di mosquito start bite.
Light the mosquito coil before the mosquitoes start biting.
-
Di coil bun dung slow all night.
The coil burns down slowly all night.
-
Buy a pack a coil from di shop.
Buy a pack of mosquito coils from the shop.
-
-
noun A roll of money: banknotes wrapped up together, a stash that is kept hidden or saved up for something.
-
Mi a save a coil fi buy a bike.
I'm saving up a roll of money to buy a bike.
-
Granny keep har coil inna di ole biscuit tin.
Granny keeps her roll of money in the old biscuit tin.
-
Origin
Named for its coiled spiral shape, which is where the mosquito coil gets its name. For the money sense the picture is banknotes wrapped up in a roll.
How it’s used
The mosquito-repellent coil is usually just 'coil'; compare 'mosquito'. As money, a coil is a roll of cash, often kept hidden or saved up, and 'stash' is another word for it. The rest of the sentence shows which meaning is meant. See Grand, Bill, Paper.