couch

Etymology 1

From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch.

noun

1. (Canada, US, Australia, Ireland) An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa.
   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. 2009, Nancy Bishop, Secrets from the Casting Couch: On Camera Strategies for Actors from a Casting Director, London: Methuen Drama, A & C Black
   […] 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. 2010, Alessandra Lemma, Matthew Patrick, “Off the Couch and Round the Conference Table”, in Alessandra Lemma, Matthew Patrick, editors, Off the Couch: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Applications, London: Routledge
   It's not a particularly unique living room. It has a window that faces the street, two broken-in beige couches, a few end tables, a television (not the latest model), and a dark blue throw rug in the center of it all. Alice sat down on one end of one couch, and I sat down on the other end. 2014, Jennifer Mathieu, The Truth About Alice: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roaring Brook Press
2. A bed, a resting-place.
   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? 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, Containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 85
   [A]pproach thy grave / Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch / About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. c. 1811 or 1816, William Cullen Bryant, “The Fragment [later renamed Thanatopsis]”, in North American Review, Boston, Mass.: O. Everett, published September 1817, →OCLC
   [H]e and those / Shall bide eternal bedfellows / Where low upon the couch he lies / Whence he never shall arise. 1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, A Shropshire Lad, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, →OCLC, stanza XLVI, lines 19–22
   The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, →OL
   The dining room that is typical of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore differs considerably from the large public dining hall known from other sites such as Perachora or the Argive Heraion. It is small and encloses no more than nine couches, with seven or eight being most common. […] Throughout, we use the term "banquette" to indicate the continuous platform in contrast to "couch," which designates a portion of that banquette reserved for one diner. […] [I]ndividual couches are always marked off by contoured armrests, composed of a single row of fieldstones plastered with clay. 1997, Nancy Bookidis, Ronald S. Stroud, The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: Topography and Architecture (Corinth; vol. 18, pt. 3), Princeton, N.J.: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, page 22
3. The den of an otter.
   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. 1998, Kevin Roche, First Phase Report of the Třeboň Otter Project
4. (art, painting and gilding) A preliminary layer, as of colour or size.
   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; […] 1839, Jean-François-Léonor Mérimée, W[illiam] B[enjamin] Sarsfield Taylor, “On the Preservation of Pictures, and the Methods Used for Restoring Them”, in The Art of Painting in Oil, and in Fresco: Being a History of the Various Processes and Materials Employed, from Its Discovery, by Hubert and John Van Eyck, to the Present Time: Translated from the Original French Treatise of M. J. F. L. Mérimée, Secretary to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, in Paris. With Original Observations on the Rise and Progress of British Art, the French and English Chromatic Scales, and Theories of Colouring, by W. B. Sarsfield Taylor, Senior Curator of the Living Model Academy, &c. &c., London: Whittaker & Co. Ave Maria Lane, →OCLC, page 231
   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. 2008, Jodi Brody, Portrait Painting with Classical Old Masters Techniques: A Guide to Using the Venetian Methods, [Raleigh, N.C.]: Lulu, page 58
5. (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
   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. 1849, William Ford, “Malting”, in An Historical Account of the Malt Trade and Laws, Shewing the Decline, and Causes of the Decline in the Consumption of Malt; with a Practical Treatise on Malting and Brewing, Deduced from Thirty Years Experience, London: Published by the author, 10, West Square, St. George's, Southwark, and 5, Talbot Court, Gracechurch Street, →OCLC, pages 125–126
6. (metonymically, usually as "the couch") Psychotherapy.
   He spent years on the couch going over his traumatic childhood.

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.

verb

1. To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).
   Why did you ſo, doth not the Gentleman / Deſerue as full as fortunate a bed, / As euer Beatrice ſhall couch upon? 1598–1599, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act III, scene i, page 110
   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. c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act IV, scene iii, page 333
   Stay for me, / Where Soules do couch on Flowers, wee'l hand in hand, / And with our ſprightly Port make the Ghoſtes gaze: […]. c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthony and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act IV, scene xiv, page 362
   All you do around here, Troy, is eat and couch and fondle the remote control. 1994, Reality Bites, spoken by Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder), Universal City, Calif.: MCA Universal Home Video, →OCLC
2. To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch.
   [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. c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act IV, scene ii, page 86
3. (transitive) To lay something upon a bed or other resting place.
   But where vnbruſed youth with vnſtuft braine / Doth couch his lims, there, golden ſleepe doth raigne; […] c. 1591–1595?, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene iii, page 61
   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. 1974, Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Fearful Void, London: Hodder & Stoughton
4. (transitive) To arrange or dispose as if in a bed.
   [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; […] 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
5. (transitive) To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.
   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; […] 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
6. (transitive) To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack.
7. (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.
   […] 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: […]. 1759, William Porterfield, A Treatise on the Eye, the Manner and Phænomena of Vision. In Two Volumes, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed for A. Miller at London, and for G. Hamilton and J. Balfour at Edinburgh, →OCLC, page 433
8. (paper-making, transitive) To transfer (for example, sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying.
   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. 1922 May, “Paper board industry is distinctly American”, in Shears, volume 30, Lafayette, Ind.: Haywood Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 103
   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. 2003, Josep Asunción, The Complete Book of Papermaking, New York, N.Y.: Lark Books, page 80
9. (sewing, transitive) To attach a thread onto fabric with small stitches in order to add texture.
   These curtains we couched in white cord with quaint designs. 1890, “A combination dining and sitting room”, in The Home-maker: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, volume 3, New York, N.Y.: Home-maker Co., →OCLC, page 326
10. To phrase in a particular style; to use specific wording for.
    He couched it as a request, but it was an order.
    And here I should observe that I had received a letter from Flora couched in rather cool terms, congratulating me on my marriage; […] 1878, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume CXXIII, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell and W. Davis, →OCLC, page 49
    More significantly, rigid deference to [Justin] Bieber’s still-young core fan base keeps things resolutely PG, with any acknowledgement of sex either couched in vague “touch your body” workarounds or downgraded to desirous hand-holding and eye-gazing. 26 June 2012, Genevieve Koski, “Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2012-06-29
    When not inaccurate, much commentary on the contents of Hobson-Jobson is couched in hedges or relies on speculative estimates in the absence of exact information. 2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 487
11. (archaic) To lie down for concealment; to conceal, to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly or secretly.
    Come, come: wee'll couch i'th Caſtle-ditch, till we ſee the light of our Fairies. before 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act V, scene ii, page 58
    You have overlooked a fallacy couched in the experiment of the stick. 1661, Galileo Galilei, translated by Thomas Salusbury, The Systeme of the World: In Four Dialogues wherein the Two Grand Systemes of Ptolomy and Copernicus are Largely Discoursed of: And the Reasons, both Phylosophical and Physical, as well on the One Side as the Other, Impartially and Indefinitely Propounded, London: William Leybourn, →OCLC, dialogue 2
    […] 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? 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

Etymology 3

(Elymus repens) in Münster-Geschinen, Valais, Switzerland]] From quitch, from Old English cwice.

noun

1. Couch grass, a species of persistent grass, Elymus repens, usually considered a weed.
   The first field it did was one on which Swedes had been roughly planted the year previously, but it had not been touched since the crop was eaten off, and was then a perfect wilderness of Couch, Docks, Thistles, and Dandelions. 19 November 1864, “The Agricultural Gazette”, in The Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette: A Newspaper of Rural Economy and General News, volume 24, number 47, London: Published for the proprietors, at 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, W.C., →OCLC, page 1114, column 2
   After he knew that he would have to give up the farm in two years he ploughed it up, had a thin crop of oats, and sowed it again with winter oats. In February, 1914, it was a field of couch. 1916, The Law Journal Reports, volume 85, part 1, London: E. B. Ince, →OCLC, page 46
   The lateral growth of these underground shoots can be very rapid, so that, from a small patch of couch, a large area of coffee can become infested in a short time. 1962, World Crops, volume 14, London: Leonard Hill Ltd., →OCLC, page 71