couch
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couch¹
- /kaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ US, UK
- /kawt͡ʃ/ British, Southern, Standard
- /kɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kɜʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kʌʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kəʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kæʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kaːt͡ʃ/
- /kuːt͡ʃ/
Rhymes with -uːtʃ, -aʊtʃ
Where it comes from
From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch.
noun couches · cowch
- 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
- 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?
- 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.
- 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 inequa
- A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley. a couch of malt
- Psychotherapy. He spent years on the couch going over his traumatic childhood.
- 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.
couch²
- /kaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ US, UK
- /kawt͡ʃ/ British, Southern, Standard
- /kɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kɜʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kʌʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kəʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kæʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kaːt͡ʃ/
- /kuːt͡ʃ/
Rhymes with -uːtʃ, -aʊtʃ
Where it comes from
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 couches · couching · couched · cowch
- 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?
- To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch. 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: […]
- 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; […]
- 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; […]
- 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; […]
- To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack. 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.
- 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
- 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.
- To attach a thread onto fabric with small stitches in order to add texture. These curtains we couched in white cord with quaint designs.
- To phrase in a particular style; to use specific wording for. He couched it as a request, but it was an order.
- 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.
couch³
- /kaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ US, UK
- /kawt͡ʃ/ British, Southern, Standard
- /kɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kɜʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kʌʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kəʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kæʊ̯t͡ʃ/
- /kaːt͡ʃ/
- /kuːt͡ʃ/
Rhymes with -uːtʃ, -aʊtʃ
Where it comes from
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.
noun
- 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.
Couch⁴
- /kuːt͡ʃ/
Where it comes from
* As a Welsh surname, from coch (“red”).
* As an French surname, from Old French couch (“bed”).
proper noun Cooch · Cough · Couche
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community in Mason County, West Virginia, United States.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: sofa, cast, frame, put, redact, lounge, settee, armchair, chair, furniture, bed, wheelchair, coach, salon, spot, seat
Translations
Every language
noun furniture for seating of more than one person
| Español | sofá, sillón, couch |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 카우치 kauchi, 소파 sopa |
| 日本語 | カウチ kauchi, ソファー sofā, 寝台 shindai |
| 中文 | 沙發 /沙发 shāfā, 長沙發椅 /长沙发椅 cháng shāfāyǐ |
| Português | sofá, cadeirão |
| Français | sofa, canapé |
| Deutsch | Sofa, Couch |
| Italiano | canapè, divano, sofà |
| Ελληνικά | καναπές kanapés |
| Русский | дива́н diván, куше́тка kušétka, тахта́ taxtá, софа́ sofá |
| Tiếng Việt | đi văng, đi-văng |
| العربية | فِرَاش firāš, أَرِيكَة ʔarīka, مَضْجَع maḍjaʕ |
| עברית | סַפָּה sapa |
Talk about this word "couch." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/couch. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. couch. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/couch "couch." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/couch.Cite this
@misc{couch_2026,
title = {couch},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/couch},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
