Forms: 4–6 couche, cowch(e, (5 kouche, cuche, 6 choche, cooch, 7 coutch), 7– couch. [a. F. couche (13th c.), earlier OF. culche, f. coucher: see COUCH v.1]
1. A frame or structure, with what is spread over it (or simply a layer of some soft substance), on which to lie down for rest or sleep; a bed. Now, in literary use, a general or vague term, implying that on which one sleeps, whether in ordinary language a bed or not.
1340. Ayenb., 171. Ich … wille wesse eche niȝt mi bed and mine couche mid mine teares.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 99 (MS. Gg.). I bad men schulde me myn couche make.
1493. Petronilla, 101. Brought to hir couch and lyenge there bedrede.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Sam. xi. 9. At euen he wente to lye him downe for to slepe vpon his couche.
1623. Cockeram, Couch, a little bed.
1757. Gray, Bard, II. i. Low on his funeral couch he lies!
1804. J. Grahame, Sabbath, 81. Wafting glad tidings to the sick man’s couch.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 664. Hospitality could offer little more than a couch of straw.
1859. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 737. The maiden rose And left her maiden couch, and robed herself.
b. transf. and fig.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. lxv. 10. And the valei of Achor in to the couche [1388 restyng place] of droues.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 2706. Sir Ywayn puld gres in the felde, And made a kouche opon his shelde.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 284. Nature hath not given unto men their … being, to … snore in the couche of carelessenesse.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. v. § 11. As if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 377. Rous’d from the slumber, on that fiery Couch.
1839. E. D. Clarke, Trav. Russia, 41/1. If he can endure … severe frost, with a couch of snow beneath the canopy of heaven.
† c. ? An allowance for the night. Obs. [The original F. has couche.]
1601. F. Tate, Househ. Ord. Edw. II., § 18. 15. Amongst them al thei shal take for their coch two pichers of wine, ij galons of beere, vj candels, a tortis, [etc.].
¶ Erroneous rendering of L. cubiculum bed-room.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Kings xx. 30. Benadab fleynge wente … into the cowch that was beside the bed place. Ibid., Matt. vi. 6. Entre in to thi couche, and the dore schet, preye thi fadir in hidlis.
2. The lair or den of a wild beast (obs.); now spec. the burrow of an otter.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xxvi. (1495), 785. Yf the whelpes gooth out of the cowche the bytche fetchyth them ayen.
c. 1420. Avow. Arth., xii. Men myȝte noȝte his cowche kenne For howundes and for slayn men, That he hade draun to his denne.
1535. Coverdale, Job xxxviii. 39. His whelpes … lurkinge in their couches.
1674. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., 38. If a Boar intends to abide in his Den, Couch, or Fort.
1834. Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 159. A dog-otter … rushed from his couch among the roots.
3. An article of furniture for reclining or sitting on; a lounge: now commonly distinguished from a sofa by having a half-back and head-end only.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxix. 580. Thei … satte doun on a Cowche that was covered with a cloth of silke.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lvii. 194. He … sat downe … on a couche.
1663. J. Done, Hist. Septuagint, 179. Ten Table-beds or Couches of ease which had the feete of Silver.
1701. Rowe, Amb. Step-Moth., II. i. They who loll’d at home on lazy Couches.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, lxi. 173. See one seated … ’Tis thy lord on a Tyrian Couch.
1885. Upholsterer’s Catal. Walnut Drawing Room Suite, consisting of Couch, two Easy Chairs, and six Chairs.
† 4. A cloth spread upon a table for a meal. Obs.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 187. Lay a clothe on þe table, a cowche it is called & said.
1513. Bk. Keruynge, in Babees Bk., 268. Laye a cloth, a couche, it is called, take your felawe that one ende, & holde you that other ende.
5. A layer, stratum, bed; esp. a layer or coat of paint, varnish, etc.
1661. in T. Birch, Hist. R. Soc., I. 52. Lay on four or five couches more…. When the last couch is well dried, rub it smooth.
1698. M. Lister, Journ. Paris (1699), 3. Digging in the Royal Physick Garden, and sowing his Couches. Ibid., 55. The first 2 or 3 couches or lays above the Foundation.
1735. Dict. Polygraph., s.v. Couch, The gold wire-drawers also use the word Couch, for the gold or silver leaf wherewith they cover the mass to be gilded or silvered.
1756. Dict. Arts & Sc., s.v. Porcelain, On this powder they lay a couch of dry fern, and on the fern another of the slaked lime.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 201, note. The artist generally spreads a thin couch of oil or varnish over the colours.
6. Malting. The bed or layer in which the grain is laid to germinate after steeping; also the floor or frame upon which it is laid.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew. (1649), 234. When … for want of looking to the Couch, and not opening of it … it come or sprout at both ends.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countrie Farme, 556. A great big coutch or heape a yard thicke or better.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, II. (ed. 2), 95. Malt … to have its due Time in the Cistern, Couch, and Kiln.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Chick, to begin to germinate, a… barley on the couch in the malthouse.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 187. s.v. Malting, After remaining in the couch twenty-four hours … the couch is broken, that is, the planks composing the front of it are removed.
b. Also in analogous uses, e.g., of hemp.
1849. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., X. I. 178. The gleans [of hemp] are lifted on to the ground, and form a couch…. If suffered to remain longer in the couch it heats and rots.
† 7. Applied by Grew to the simple folding of petals in æstivation. Obs.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. v. § 6. The Foulds of the Flower or Foliation are various…. The Close-Couch as in Roses, and many other double Flowers. Then the Concave-Couch, as in Blattaria flore albo … Daisies, and all others of an agreeing form: where the first apparent Fould or Composture of the Leaves is in Couch.
8. Naut. = COACH sb. 2.
1769–1850. [see COACH sb. 2].
9. Paper Manuf. A board covered with felt or flannel on which the sheets of pulp are placed to be pressed. (Cf. COUCH v.1 6, COUCHER3.)
1886. W. A. Harris, Techn. Dict. Fire Insur., s.v. Couching, Transferring the sheets of pulp from the moulds to boards covered with felt or flannel, called ‘couches.’
10. attrib. and Comb., as couch-foot; (in sense 6), couch-bushel, -frame, -gauge (see quots.); † couch-bed, a couch used as a bed, a bed without canopy or hangings; so couch-bedstead; couch-mate, a bedfellow; couch-roll, a roller forming part of the machinery used in paper-making (cf. COUCH v.1 6, COUCHER3).
¶ Couch-fellow, bedfellow, cited by Johnson, from Shaks., is a conjectural alteration of the actual reading COACH-FELLOW, q.v.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, III. xxiv. 229. The *Couch-Bed, which was … inlayde with Checker-worke of Silver.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2653/4. A Couch-Bed made of Point of Hungary red and green.
1755. Mem. Capt. P. Drake, I. xv. 146. Little Cells, with a *Couch Bedsted in each.
1766. C. Leadbetter, Royal Gauger (ed. 6), II. v. 277. A number of Floor-Bushels that are equal in Charge to those Cistern or *Couch-Bushels.
1880. Browning, Dram. Idylls, Ser. II. Doctor ——. From *couch-foot back to pillow.
1766. C. Leadbetter, Royal Gauger (ed. 6), II. v. 274. Where *Couch-frames are used he must take their Dimensions when they are empty.
1846. McCulloch, Acc. Brit. Emp. (1854), I. 755. The grain, after being steeped … is thrown out of the cistern into a square or oblong utensil called a couch-frame.
1766. C. Leadbetter, Royal Gauger (ed. 6), II. v. 275. The Length, Breadth, and Depth of each *Couch-Gauge.
1875. Browning, Aristoph. Apol., 209. Zeus’ *Couchmate.
1855. R. Herring, Paper (1863), 91. The ordinary *couch roll, which acts upon the upper surface of the paper.
