Mortal coil

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For other uses, see Mortal coil (disambiguation).

Mortal coil is a poetic term that means the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world. It is used in the sense of a burden to be carried or abandoned, most famously in the phrase "shuffle[d] off this mortal coil" from Shakespeare's Hamlet. (For more context of the phrase, see To be, or not to be.)

[edit] Derivation

Derived from 16th Century English, "coil" refers to tumults or troubles. Used idiomatically, the word means "the troubles of life and the world."

"Coil" has an unusual etymological history. It was coined repeatedly; at one time people used it as a verb to mean "to cull," "to thrash," "to lay in rings or spirals," "to turn," "to mound hay" and "to stir." As a noun it has meant "a selection," "a spiral," "the breech of a gun," "a mound of hay", "a pen for hens", and "noisy disturbance, fuss, ado." It is in this last sense, which became popular in the 16th century, that Shakespeare used the word.

In fact, "mortal coil"—along with "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," "to sleep, perchance to dream" and "ay, there’s the rub"—is part of Hamlet’s famous "To be or not to be" speech. "Coil" is no longer used as a synonym for "disturbance."

In today's coloquialisms "coil" has been phased from use. You're unlikely to hear "Stop making such a coil! I’m trying to sleep!" But the phrase "mortal coil," meaning "the bustle of life," will surely remain part of our language as long as English-speakers take pleasure in Shakespeare and archaicism.