English

Noun

coterie ‎(plural coteries)

1. A circle of people who associate with one another.

   The new junior employee joined our merry after-hours coterie.‎

2. An exclusive group of people, who associate closely for a common purpose; a clique.

   A tightly-knit coterie of executive powerbrokers made all the real decisions in the company.‎

   • 2016 March 3, David Thomson, “Biggest lesson of the 2016 Oscars? The Academy should be scrapped”, in The Guardian:

     So the thought of closing the Academy is not based in malice; the action might prove enlightening and refreshing. The old club coterie has very little excuse, and its loss would leave few casualties.

3. A communal burrow of prairie dogs.

   The coterie was located in the middle of our wheat field.‎

   • 2000, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, page 473:

     The population of each coterie constantly changes over a period of a few months or years, by death, birth, and emigration. But the coterie boundary remains about the same, being learned by each prairie dog born into it.

   • 2001, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Emperor's Embrace: The Evolution of Fatherhood:

     The odd part of prairie dog life is that this friendly state exists only among the members of each coterie, and does not extend between coteries.

   • 2009, Miriam Aronin, The Prairie Dog's Town: A Perfect Hideaway, page 22:

     The Town Grows Young prairie dogs in a coterie are brothers and sisters. They have the same father and sometimes the same mother. To find a mate from a different family, young prairie dogs must travel to a new area.

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