Word: couch Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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. Pronunciation: /ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkɜʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkʌʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkəʊ̯t͡ʃ/ 1. To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose). Labels: intransitive Example: Why did you ſo, doth not the Gentleman / Deſerue as full as fortunate a bed, / As euer Beatrice ſhall couch upon? Example: I call'd my Loue falſe Loue: but what ſaid he then? / Sing Willough, &c. / If I court mo women, you'le couch with mo men. 2. To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch. Labels: intransitive Example: At laſt, as thro an open Plain they yode, / They ſpy'd a Knight, that towards pricked fair, / And him beſide an aged Squire there rode, / That ſeem'd to couch under his Shield three-ſquare, / As if that Age bad him that Burden ſpare, / And yield it thoſe that ſtouter could it wield: […] Example: [T]hen let the Trumpets ſound / The Tucket Sonuance, and the Note to mount: / For our approach ſhall ſo much dare the field, / That England ſhall couch downe in feare, and yeeld. 3. To lay something upon a bed or other resting place. Labels: transitive Example: But where vnbruſed youth with vnſtuft braine / Doth couch his lims, there, golden ſleepe doth raigne; […] Example: The storm seemed to have acquired a second wind, blowing as fiercely as in the morning, and at the tree we couched the beasts and started to upload again. We rolled into our blankets once more, and passed more hours sheltering blindly from the blasting of the sand. 4. To arrange or dispose as if in a bed. Labels: transitive Example: [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; […] 5. To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed. Labels: transitive Example: 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; […] 6. To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack. Labels: transitive Example: And fairly couching his ſteel-headed Spear, / Him firſt ſaluted with a ſturdy Stroke: / It booted nought Sir Guyon, coming near, / To think ſuch hideous Puiſſance on foot to bear. Example: Stout Deloraine nor sighed, nor prayed, / Nor saint, nor ladye, called to aid: / But he stooped his head, and couched his spear, / And spurred his steed to full career. / The meeting of these champions proud / Seemed like the bursting thunder-cloud. 7. 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. Labels: transitive Example: […] A Man having a Cataract in both Eyes, which intirely deprived him of Sight, committed himſelf to an Oculiſt, who finding them ripe, performed the Operation, and couched the Cataracts with all the Succeſs could be deſired; but after they were couched, he could not ſee objects diſtinctly, even at an ordinary Diſtance, without the Help of a very convex Lens; which is what every body has obſerved to be neceſſary to all thoſe who have had a Cataract couched: […]. 8. To transfer (for example, sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying. Labels: transitive Example: He invented the grooved wood roll or mandrel on which the thin film of wet paper, as couched from the cylinder mould, was wound and thus the sheet built up to the required thickness, when it was cut from the roll or mandrel along the groove and peeled off to be air dried and sheet calendered. Example: Couching involves transferring the sheet of paper from the mould to the felt. […] After couching the sheet, place a new felt on top and repeat the operation. 9. To attach a thread onto fabric with small stitches in order to add texture. Labels: transitive Example: These curtains we couched in white cord with quaint designs. 10. To phrase in a particular style; to use specific wording for. Labels: transitive Example: He couched it as a request, but it was an order. Example: And here I should observe that I had received a letter from Flora couched in rather cool terms, congratulating me on my marriage; […] 11. To lie down for concealment; to conceal, to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly or secretly. Labels: archaic, intransitive Example: Come, come: wee'll couch i'th Caſtle-ditch, till we ſee the light of our Fairies. Example: You have overlooked a fallacy couched in the experiment of the stick.