couple
noun
- set of two people linked in a physical and emotional community
- system of forces with a resultant moment but no resultant force
verb
- join two things together
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkʌp.əl/ / [ˈkʌp.ɫ̩] / /ˈkə.pᵻl/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.
- Two or (a) small number of.
“Put any couple guys in a tricked out car and a couple of bandannas […]" He trailed off.”
“Since we were now living so close, at least those couple hours of talking together helped boost our spirits.”
det
Etymology: From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.
- Two or a few, a small number of.
“A couple fewer people show up every week.”
“I'll be there in a couple minutes.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.
- 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”
- Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
“The number of Souls in the Kingdom being uſually reckon'd one Million and a half, Of theſe I calculate there may be about tvvo hundred thouſand Couple vvhoſe VVives are Breeders, from vvhich Number I Subſtract thirty Thouſand Couples, vvho are able to maintain their ovvn Children, […]”
“Having a beloved couple (Jim and Pam, Cory and Topanga) exchange vows was once a foolproof way to juice TV ratings.”
- A small number.
“A couple of billiard balls, all mud and dirt, two battered hats, a champagne bottle […]”
“‘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.’”
- One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
- A turning effect created by forces that produce a non-zero external torque.
- A couple-close.
- That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.
“I’ll keep my stables where / I lodge my wife; I’ll go in couples with her;”
“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.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin cōpula. Doublet of copula.
- 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.”
- 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”
- To join in sexual intercourse; to copulate.
“On their wedding night they coupled nine times.”
“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 […]”
- 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.”
- To enter (multiple horses with the same owner) into a race so that a single bet can be placed on any of them winning.