COUPLE


Meaning of COUPLE in English

— coupleable , adj.

/kup"euhl/ , n. , v. , coupled, coupling .

n.

1. two of the same sort considered together; pair.

2. two persons considered as joined together, as a married or engaged pair, lovers, or dance partners: They make a handsome couple.

3. any two persons considered together.

4. Mech. a pair of equal, parallel forces acting in opposite directions and tending to produce rotation.

5. Also called couple-close . Carpentry. a pair of rafters connected by a tie beam or collar beam.

6. a leash for holding two hounds together.

7. Fox Hunting. two hounds: 25 hounds or 12 1 / 2 couple.

8. a couple of , more than two, but not many, of; a small number of; a few: It will take a couple of days for the package to get there. Also, a couple .

v.t.

9. to fasten, link, or associate together in a pair or pairs.

10. to join; connect.

11. to unite in marriage or in sexual union.

12. Elect.

a. to join or associate by means of a coupler.

b. to bring (two electric circuits or circuit components) close enough to permit an exchange of electromagnetic energy.

v.i.

13. to join in a pair; unite.

14. to copulate.

[ 1175-1225; (n.) ME c ( o ) uple, OF cople, cuple copula a tie, bond (see COPULA); (v.) ME couplen co ( u ) pler, OF copler, cupler copulare (see COPULATE) ]

Usage . The phrase A COUPLE OF has been in standard use for centuries, especially with measurements of time and distance and in referring to amounts of money: They walked a couple of miles in silence. Repairs will probably cost a couple of hundred dollars. The phrase is used in all but the most formal speech and writing. The shortened phrase A COUPLE, without OF ( The gas station is a couple miles from here ), is an Americanism of recent development that occurs chiefly in informal speech or representations of speech. Without a following noun, the phrase is highly informal: Jack shouldn't drive. I think he's had a couple. (Here the noun drinks is omitted.)

In referring to two people, COUPLE, like many collective nouns, may take either a singular or a plural verb. Most commonly, it is construed as a plural: The couple were traveling to Texas. See also collective noun .

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .