couch
/ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms couches couching couched cowch Cooch Cough Couche
- noun (Canada, US, Australia, Ireland) An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa.
- noun A bed, a resting-place.
- noun The den of an otter.
- noun (art, painting and gilding) A preliminary layer, as of colour or size.
- noun (brewing) A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley. “a couch of malt”
- noun (metonymic, usually as "the couch") Psychotherapy. “He spent years on the couch going over his traumatic childhood.”
- noun (figurative, politics, usually as "the couch") Voters who opt out of voting, usually by staying home on their couch. “If Kamala Harris replaces Joe Biden in the 2024 election, analysts warn that she will lose to the couch.”
- verb (intransitive) To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).
- verb (intransitive) To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch.
- verb (transitive) To lay something upon a bed or other resting place.
- verb (transitive) To arrange or dispose as if in a bed.
- verb (transitive) To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.
- verb (transitive) To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack.
- verb (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.
- verb (papermaking, transitive) To transfer (for example, sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying.
- noun Couch grass, a species of persistent grass, Elymus repens, usually considered a weed.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Mason County, West Virginia, United States.
Synonyms
davenport divan settee sofa lie down recline explain express phrase term frame lounge redact cast put
Etymology
From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch.
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.
From a variant of quitch, from Middle English quich, quyke, from Old English cwice, from Proto-West Germanic *kwikwā, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwǭ, from *kwikwaz (“alive, lively”). Related to quick. More at quitch.
* As a Welsh surname, from coch (“red”).
* As an French surname, from Old French couch (“bed”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To lay upon a bed or other resting place.
- verb To arrauge or dispose as in a bed; --sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.
- verb To lie down or recline, as on a bed or other place of rest; to repose; to lie. Where souls do couch on flowers, we 'll hand in hand. Shak.
- verb To lie down for concealment; to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly.
Etymology [F. coucher to lay down, lie down, OF. colchier, fr. L. collocare to lay, put, place; col- + locare to place, fr. locus place. See Locus.]
Etymology [F. couche, OF. colche, culche, fr. colchier. See Couch, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “couch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details