Couple
['kʌp(ə)l] or ['kʌpl]
Definition
(noun.) a pair who associate with one another; 'the engaged couple'; 'an inseparable twosome'.
(noun.) a pair of people who live together; 'a married couple from Chicago'.
(noun.) (physics) something joined by two equal and opposite forces that act along parallel lines.
(noun.) two items of the same kind.
(noun.) a small indefinite number; 'he's coming for a couple of days'.
(verb.) link together; 'can we couple these proposals?'.
Editor: Nancy--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.
(a.) Two of the same kind connected or considered together; a pair; a brace.
(a.) A male and female associated together; esp., a man and woman who are married or betrothed.
(a.) See Couple-close.
(a.) One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery; -- called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
(a.) Two rotations, movements, etc., which are equal in amount but opposite in direction, and acting along parallel lines or around parallel axes.
(v.) To link or tie, as one thing to another; to connect or fasten together; to join.
(v.) To join in wedlock; to marry.
(v. i.) To come together as male and female; to copulate.
Checker: Wilbur
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Brace, pair, two (of the same kind).[2]. Man and wife.
v. a. [1]. Join, conjoin, connect, unite, pair, link together.[2]. Marry, wed.
v. n. Unite, pair.
Typist: Tito
Definition
n. that which joins two things together: two of a kind joined together or connected: two: one pair at a dance: a pair: esp. of married or betrothed persons: (statics) a pair of equal forces acting on the same body in opposite and parallel directions.—v.t. to join together.—v.i. to pair sexually.—ns. Coup′lement union: a couple; Coup′ler one who or that which couples or unites; Coup′let two lines of verse that rhyme with each other; Coup′ling that which connects an appliance for transmitting motion in machinery; Coup′ling-box the box or ring of metal connecting the contiguous ends of two lengths of shafts; Coup′ling-pin a pin or bolt used in coupling machinery.—adj. Well-coupled of a horse well formed at the part where the back joins the rump.
Editor: Margaret
Examples
- And this was not a couple of generations after the hosts of Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont! H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Elinor tried to talk of something else; but Miss Steele could not be kept beyond a couple of minutes, from what was uppermost in her mind. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- It was, as Mrs. Archer smilingly said to Mrs. Welland, a great event for a young couple to give their first big dinner. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Give us a couple of hundreds--come, that's modest--and I'll go away--honor bright! George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The draught is maintained by placing the apparatus on a couple of bricks, and regulated by closing the intervening space with mud, leaving only a sufficient aperture to keep the fire burning. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- I'm not playing, I never do, said Frank, dismayed at the sentimental predicament out of which he was to rescue the absurd couple. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- And so the amiable couple parted. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- Young couples, who had loved long and hopelessly, suddenly found every impediment removed, and wealth pour in from the death of relatives. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Was it the speciality of Mr and Mrs Lammle, or does it ever obtain with other loving couples? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Foreign artisans and servants do everything by couples: I believe it would take two Labassecourien carpenters to drive a nail. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- I talked about the dance, and _you_ ought to make some sort of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Gibbon couples the Justinian epidemic with the great comet of 531, and with the very frequent and serious earthquakes of that reign. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- For years the Turks and Byzantines had intermarried, and hunted in couples in strange by-paths of diplomacy. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Before the golden mean was found, however, Meg added to her domestic possessions what young couples seldom get on long without, a family jar. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- She sighed to think what her mother's fierce energies would have accomplished, had they been coupled with Mrs. Peniston's resources. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Men had very little time and disposition for play, and this, coupled with the remnants of Puritanic influence, left the game in the hands of those who lived by their wits rather than work. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- More singular still, the heathmen had instinctively coupled her and this man together in their minds as a pair born for each other. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Goebel's claims were not unknown to the Edison Company, for as far back as 1882 they had been officially brought to its notice coupled with an offer of sale for a few thousand dollars. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- We reached the house, in the temper of two strange dogs, coupled up together for the first time in their lives by the same chain. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The Clermont’s engines were coupled to the crank shaft by a bell crank, and the paddle wheel shaft was separated from the crank shaft, but connected with it by gearing. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- And he had heard this man's name coupled with Lily's! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- True, he hated promiscuity even worse than marriage, and a liaison was only another kind of coupling, reactionary from the legal marriage. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- In his new engine, the Samson, he adopted the plan of coupling the fore and rear wheels of the engine. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Many thousands of these have been patented, but the Janney coupling, patented April 29, 1873, No. 138,405, is the most representative type. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The automatic car coupling is another important life-saving improvement. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Coupling together many circumstances which had at first escaped his observation, he thought I had not treated her well. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- They shake hands and embrace each other over and over again, the trooper still coupling his How do you do, my dear old fellow! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- When the extra vents of the reservoir are not used, they can be closed by a short rubber coupling and a pinch cock. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
Editor: Winthrop