Word: couch Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch. Pronunciation: /ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkɜʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkʌʊ̯t͡ʃ/, /ˈkəʊ̯t͡ʃ/ 1. An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa. Labels: Australia, Canada, Ireland, US Example: At a casting workshop, an actor was performing a blank scene […] and he had not bothered to make any choices about why he was on stage, what his motivation was, what he was playing. He had decided who he was and where he was (on a couch with his girlfriend) but had not decided what he wanted. So the performance was flat and lifeless. Example: […] I want to try to describe my efforts to take psychoanalysis as a method off the couch and into the work of creating and using a political conference table. 2. A bed, a resting-place. Example: O Sleepe, O gentle Sleepe, […] O thou dull God, why lyeſt thou with the vilde, / In loathſome Beds, and leau'st the Kingly Couch, / A Watch-caſe, or a common Larum-Bell? Example: [A]pproach thy grave / Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch / About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 3. The den of an otter. Example: A couch was located under the roots of an uprooted tree in a medium dense spruce patch and the second couch was located under a free standing spruce along a regulation channel. 4. A preliminary layer, as of colour or size. Example: For the re-lining, the usual method is to strain a new and strong cloth of an even surface upon the stretcher, to rub it down smooth with pumice stone, and then to give it an even couch of paste, a similar couch is then to be applied to the back of the picture after it has been freed from all inequalities; […] Example: Once you have chosen which color of underpainting you will use, you should apply the paint to get the values, lighting, and the likeness perfect. The underpainting is applied using a couch of medium and the paint is worked into that medium in very small amounts and in small areas at a time. […] Your paint should glide and then melt into the couch as you work the paint with your brush. 5. A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley. Example: a couch of malt Example: MALTING IN MUNICH. The barley is steeped till the acrospire, in embryo, or seed germ, seems to be quickened; […] As long however as the seed-gum sticks to the husk, it has not been steeped enough for exposure to the underground malt-floor: nor can deficient steeping be safely made up for afterwards by sprinkling the malt couch with a watering can, which is apt to render the malting irregular. […] It [the barley] is now taken out and laid on the couch floor, in a square heap, eight to ten inches high, and it is turned over morning and evening with dexterity, so as to throw the middle portion upon the top and bottom of the new made couch. 6. Psychotherapy. Labels: metonymically, usually Example: He spent years on the couch going over his traumatic childhood. 7. Voters who opt out of voting, usually by staying home on their couch. Labels: figuratively, usually Example: If Kamala Harris replaces Joe Biden in the 2024 election, analysts warn that she will lose to the couch.