Couch

/ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ · noun

Meaning

(Canada, US, Australia, Ireland) An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Canada, US, Australia, Ireland) An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa.
2. A bed, a resting-place.
3. The den of an otter.
4. (art, painting and gilding) A preliminary layer, as of colour or size.
5. (brewing) A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley.
6. (metonymic, usually as "the couch") Psychotherapy.
7. (figurative, politics, usually as "the couch") Voters who opt out of voting, usually by staying home on their couch.
8. (intransitive) To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).

Example Sentences

At a casting workshop, an actor was performing a blank scene […] and he had not bothered to make any choices about why he was on stage, what his motivation was, what he was playing. He had decided who he was and where he was (on a couch with his girlfriend) but had not decided what he wanted. So the performance was flat and lifeless.

[…] I want to try to describe my efforts to take psychoanalysis as a method off the couch and into the work of creating and using a political conference table.

It's not a particularly unique living room. It has a window that faces the street, two broken-in beige couches, a few end tables, a television (not the latest model), and a dark blue throw rug in the center of it all. Alice sat down on one end of one couch, and I sat down on the other end.

O Sleepe, O gentle Sleepe, […] O thou dull God, why lyeſt thou with the vilde, / In loathſome Beds, and leau'st the Kingly Couch, / A Watch-caſe, or a common Larum-Bell?

[A]pproach thy grave / Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch / About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

[H]e and those / Shall bide eternal bedfellows / Where low upon the couch he lies / Whence he never shall arise.

The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.

The dining room that is typical of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore differs considerably from the large public dining hall known from other sites such as Perachora or the Argive Heraion. It is small and encloses no more than nine couches, with seven or eight being most common. […] Throughout, we use the term "banquette" to indicate the continuous platform in contrast to "couch," which designates a portion of that banquette reserved for one diner. […] [I]ndividual couches are always marked off by contoured armrests, composed of a single row of fieldstones plastered with clay.

Synonyms for couch

Antonyms for couch

Related Words

Word Forms

• couches
• cowch
• couching
• couched

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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