QUOIN

Generally, a 'quoin' is a wedge, used to support or anchor other items. More specifically, ''quoin'' may refer to:

★ In architecture, 'quoins' are the corner stones that anchor the edge of the building wall.

★ In printing, 'quoins' are wedges used by printers to hold the hand-set type in place in a printer's chase. It is sometimes claimed that this is the origin and true spelling of the expression "to coin a phrase," (i.e., "to quoin a phrase"), but a simple check of the history of the words in the Oxford English Dictionary shows this claim to be bogus.

★ In naval warfare, a 'quoin' was a wedge manipulated at the breech end of a cannon to raise or lower the barrel.