coon /kuːn/noun 7verb 6forms 3 noun7 •(Southern-US, informal) A raccoon.He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels. — 1865 •(slang, offensive) A black person.And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon! Who let all this riff-raff into the room? — 1979 •A black person who "plays the coon"; that is, who plays the dated stereotype of a black fool for an audience, particularly including Caucasians. •(slang, offensive) A black race traitor. •(Southern-US, offensive) A coonass; a white Acadian French person who lives in the swamps. •(South-Africa, informal) A member of a colorfully dressed dance troupe in Cape Town during New Year celebrations. •(US, old-fashioned) A sly fellow. verb6 •(Southern-US, informal) To hunt raccoons. •To play the dated stereotype of a black fool for an audience, particularly including Caucasians.From the classic toasts to the dirty dozens to the early blues⁵⁰ and now to gangsta rap lyrics—why not consider it all just a bunch of niggers cooning for the white man’s delight and dollars? — 2005 •(informal) To fish by noodling, by feeling for large fish in underwater holes. •To traverse by crawling, as a ledge. •(Southern-US, informal) To crawl while straddling, especially in crossing a creek.There is a little ledge low on the face of the cliff, and by this with careful “cooning” one may reach a recession in the rock which makes a lovely arm chair. — 1917 •(informal, old-fashioned) To steal.Cooning water-melons [sic.] was a common custom, and young people would go out at night on such parties. To prevent any raids on our melon patch Grandfather set a trap alarm—which brought disaster. — 1940 formscooned · cooning · coons
