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cwtch

noun

  1. a cupboard or cubbyhole
  2. a hug
L408189 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /kʊtʃ/

noun

Etymology: From Welsh cwtsh (“hug, cuddle; little corner, recess”), from Middle English couche. Doublet of couch.

  1. A cubbyhole or similar hiding place.

    In front of the pavement again stretched a flat patch of rusty ground, a sort of little platform in the side of the hill where the sagging drying-lines stood and a chickens' cwtch built of orange-boxes.

    "In better times when the coalman called at our home in William Street he heaved the sacks through the front door and put their contents into the ‘cwtch’ under the stairs, a messy business indeed."

  2. A hug or cuddle.

    I am expecting the big man to come round the corner and give me a ‘cwtch’ as he has done beside countless rugby fields.

    I don’t mind them coming in for a quick cwtch before trudging back off to their own rooms, as long as no conversation is required and it is literally just a five-minute cuddle.

verb

Etymology: From Welsh cwtsio, from cwtsh + -o (suffix forming verbnouns).

  1. To hug, cuddle, embrace, or comfort.
  2. To crouch or lie (down).

    A family are about to have a meal round the kitchen table, so the dog is told to go and “cwtch” in the corner, out of harm’s way.