couple

Etymology

From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.

noun

1. Two of the same kind connected or considered together.
   A couple of police officers appeared at the door.
   'Tis in some sort with Friends (Pardon the Coarseness of the illustration) as it is with Dogs in Couples. They should be of the same Size; and Humour; and That which Pleases the One should Please the Other 1692, Roger L'Estrange, Fables, of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists: with Morals and Reflexions, page 64
   […]couple of tables; one of which bore some preparations for supper; while, on the other […] 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby
2. Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
3. (informal) A small number.
   ‘Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and it need not interfere very much with one’s other occupations.’ 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
   When we got on board again after a couple of hours on shore[…] 1902, A. Henry Savage Landor, Across Coveted Lands
   Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir. 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax
4. One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
5. (physics) A turning effect created by forces that sum to zero in magnitude but produce a non-zero external torque.
6. (architecture) A couple-close.
7. That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.
   As we passed the deserted mountain-dairy, we must have crossed the fresh track of a hare, because the hounds became rather uneasy in the couples. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 27

adj

1. (informal, US, Canada) Two or (a) small number of.
   Put any couple guys in a tricked out car and a couple of bandannas […]" He trailed off. 2005, Deirdre Savoy, Body of Truth, page 179
   Since we were now living so close, at least those couple hours of talking together helped boost our spirits. 2005, Elaine Bonzelaar, Those First Two Years, page 47
   Apparently, Ann in particular liked these couple pages of the character thing. 2006, Eric Nolen-Weathington, George A. Khoury, Arthur Adams, Modern Masters: Arthur Adams, volume six, page 22

det

1. (colloquial, US, Canada) Two or a few, a small number of.
   A couple fewer people show up every week.
   I'll be there in a couple minutes.
   Q. (Mr. Feldman, atty) You say you lived upstairs? A. (Emma Moore) I lived upstairs. Q. Until when? A. About couple months we lived upstairs. Q. Up until couple months ago? A. No, couple months after we moved in there because the down stairs was not finished. 1922, “Lewis J. Bennett et al vs. Sebastien L. Petrino”, in State of New York Supreme Court Appellate Division - Fourth Department
   Couple boys from way downcountry come for a summer in the woods. Isaac Cole talked to em. 2007, Jeffrey Lent, Lost Nation, page 182
   [At a pizza parlor] "Couple slices would be great. […] 2011, Elizabeth Eulberg, Prom and Prejudice

verb

1. (transitive) To join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).
   Now the conductor will couple the train cars.
   I've coupled our system to theirs.
2. (transitive, dated) To join in wedlock; to marry.
   I am just going to perform a very good office, it is to assist with the archbishop, in degrading a parson who couples all our beggars 1801, Jonathan Swift, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 14, page 59
3. (intransitive) To join in sexual intercourse; to copulate.
   On their wedding night they coupled nine times. 1987, Alan Norman Bold, Robert Giddings, Who was really who in fiction, Longman
   She had the brilliant inventor and craftsman Daedalus construct her an artificial cow, in which she hid and induced the bull to couple with her … 2001, John Fisher, Geoff Garvey, The rough guide to Crete,, page 405
4. (transitive) To cause (two animals) to copulate, to bring (two animals) together for mating.
   The Parilia was generally considered to be the best time for coupling the rams and the ewes . 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 328