couch

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ (Canada, Canadian raising) IPA(key): /ˈkɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkɜʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkʌʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkəʊ̯t͡ʃ/ (Southern US, Midland US, Mid-Atlantic US, New York City, Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈkæʊ̯t͡ʃ/ (Pittsburgh, General South African, /aʊ̯/-monophthongization) IPA(key): /ˈkaːt͡ʃ/ Rhymes: -aʊtʃ IPA(key): /kuːt͡ʃ/ (in papermaking terminology) Rhymes: -uːtʃ Hyphenation: couch === Etymology 1 === From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch. ==== Alternative forms ==== cowch (obsolete) ==== Noun ==== couch (plural couches) (Canada, US, Australia, Ireland) An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa. A bed, a resting-place. The den of an otter. (art, painting and gilding) A preliminary layer, as of colour or size. (brewing) A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley. (metonymic, usually as "the couch") Psychotherapy. (figurative, politics, usually as "the couch") Voters who opt out of voting, usually by staying home on their couch. ===== Synonyms ===== (item of furniture): davenport, divan, settee, sofa ===== Hyponyms ===== (item of furniture): chesterfield, daybed, love seat ===== Coordinate terms ===== (item of furniture): armchair, banquette ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Descendants ===== → German: Couch → Slovene: kavč → Serbo-Croatian: кауч / kauč ===== Translations ===== ==== Further reading ==== couch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia wing chair === Etymology 2 === From Middle English couchen, from Old French (se) couchier, (se) colchier (“go to bed, lay down”), from Latin collocāre (“set in place”), from com- (“together, with”) + locāre. Doublet of collocate. ==== Alternative forms ==== cowch (obsolete) ==== Verb ==== couch (third-person singular simple present couches, present participle couching, simple past and past participle couched) (intransitive) To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose). Synonyms: lie down, recline (intransitive) To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch. (transitive) To lay something upon a bed or other resting place. (transitive) To arrange or dispose as if in a bed. 1684, Thomas Burnet, The Theory of the Earth: Containing an Account of the Original of the Earth, and of All the General Changes which it Hath Already Undergone, or Is to Undergo, Till the Consummation of All Things, volume I, London: Printed by R[oger] Norton for Walter Kettilby, OCLC 12330969, book I; republished as The Theory of the Earth: Containing an Account of the Original of the Earth, and of All the General Changes which it Hath Already Undergone, or Is to Undergo, Till the Consummation of All Things. The Two First Books Concerning the Deluge, and Concerning Paradise, 3rd edition, volume I, London: Printed for R[oger] N[orton] for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishop's-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard, 1697, OCLC 228725686, page 56: [T]he Sea and the Land make one Globe, and the waters couch themſelves, as cloſe as may be, to the Center of this Globe in a Spherical convexity; ſo that if all the Mountains and Hills were ſcal'd, and the Earth made even, the Waters would not overflow its ſmooth ſurface; […] (transitive) To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed. 1627, Francis Bacon, “VIII. Century”, in Sylua Syluarum: or A Naturall Historie: in Ten Centuries. VVritten by the Right Honourable Francis Lo[rd] Verulam Viscount St. Alban. Published after the Authors Death, by VVilliam Rawley Doctor of Diuinitie, late His Lordships Chaplaine, London: Printed by I[ohn] H[aviland and Augustine Mathewes] for William Lee at the Turks Head in Fleet-street, next to the Miter, OCLC 606502643; republished as Sylva Sylvarvm: or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centvries. Written by the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam Viscount St. Alban. Published after the Authors Death, by William Rawley Doctor in Divinitie, One of His Majesties Chaplaines. Hereunto is now Added an Alphabeticall Table of the Principall Things Contained in the Whole Worke, London: Printed by John Haviland for William Lee, and are to be sold by John Williams, 1635, OCLC 606502717, page 197: It is, at this Day, in uſe, in Gaza, to couch Pot-Sheards or Veſſels of Earth, in their Walls, to gather the Wind from the top, and to paſſe it downe in Spouts into Roomes. It is a Device for Freſhneſſe, in great Heats; […] (transitive) To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack. (ophthalmology, transitive) In the treatment of a cataract in the eye, to displace the opaque lens with a sharp object such as a needle. The technique is regarded as largely obsolete. (papermaking, transitive) To transfer (for example, sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying. (sewing, transitive) To attach a thread onto fabric with small stitches in order to add texture. (transitive) To phrase in a particular style; to use specific wording for. Synonyms: explain, express, phrase, term (archaic, intransitive) To lie down for concealment; to conceal, to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly or secretly. 1832, Isaac Taylor, “The State of Sacred Science: ‘Thy Testimonies are My Meditation’”, in Saturday Evening, London: Holdsworth and Ball, OCLC 262702496; republished Hingham, Mass.: Published by C. & E. B. Gill [...], 1833, OCLC 191249371, page 91: […] Or who, regardless of the powers of calumny that keep their state as ministers of vengeance around the throne of ancient Prejudice, explores anew the half-hidden, half-revealed wonders, that yet couch beneath the words of the Scripture? ===== Alternative forms ===== cowch (obsolete) ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 3 === From a variant of quitch, from Middle English quich, quyke, from Old English cwice. ==== Noun ==== couch (uncountable) Couch grass, a species of persistent grass, Elymus repens, usually considered a weed. ===== Translations ===== ==== Further reading ==== couch on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Elymus repens on Wikipedia.Wikipedia