[a. Fr. accouplement (16th c. in Littré), n. of action f. accoupler: see ACCOUPLE and -MENT.]

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  † 1.  The action of coupling one thing to another; union, pairing; marriage union. Obs.

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1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 347/4. This excellence that virgynyte had as to the respect of thaccouplement of mariage appiereth by manyfold comparacion.

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1576.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 339. The lawe of God maketh the accouplement honorable amongst all men.

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1594.  R. C[arew], Huarte’s Exam. Men’s Wits (1616), 318. If the father be wise in the works of the imagination, and … take to wife a woman cold and moist in the third degree, the sonne borne of such an accouplement, shalbe most vntoward.

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  2.  (In carpentry.)

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1823.  Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 579. Accouplement, in carpentry; a tie or brace, or the entire work when framed.

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