couple

cou·ple (k

1. Two items of the same kind; a pair.

2. Something that joins or connects two things together; a link.

3. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

a. Two people united, as by betrothal or marriage.

b. Two people together.

4. Informal A few; several: a couple of days.

5. Physics A pair of forces of equal magnitude acting in parallel but opposite directions, capable of causing rotation but not translation.

v. cou·pled, cou·pling, cou·ples

v.tr.

1. To link together; connect: coupled her refusal with an explanation.

a. To join as spouses; marry.

b. To join in sexual union.

3. Electricity To link (two circuits or currents) as by magnetic induction.

v.intr.

1. To form pairs; join.

2. To unite sexually; copulate.

3. To join chemically.

adj. Informal

Two or few: "Every couple years the urge strikes, to . . . haul off to a new site" Garrison Keillor.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin cpula, bond, pair.]

Usage Note: When used to refer to two people who function socially as a unit, as in a married couple, the word couple may take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on whether the members are considered individually or collectively: The couple were married last week. Only one couple was left on the dance floor. When a pronoun follows, they and their are more common than it and its: The couple decided to spend their (less commonly its) vacation in Florida. Using a singular verb and a plural pronoun, as in The couple wants their children to go to college, is widely considered to be incorrect. Care should be taken that the verb and pronoun agree in number: The couple want their children to go to college.·Although the phrase a couple of has been well established in English since before the Renaissance, modern critics have sometimes maintained that a couple of is too inexact to be appropriate in formal writing. But the inexactitude of a couple of may serve a useful purpose, suggesting that the writer is indifferent to the precise number of items involved. Thus the sentence She lives only a couple of miles away implies not only that the distance is short but that its exact measure is unimportant. This usage should be considered unobjectionable on all levels of style.·The of in the phrase a couple of is often dropped in speech, but this omission is usually considered a mistake, especially in formal contexts. Three-fourths of the Usage Panel finds the sentence I read a couple books over vacation to be unacceptable; however, another 20% of the Panel finds the sentence to be acceptable in informal speech and writing.

couple

Noun

1. two people who are married or romantically involved

2. two partners in a dance or game

3. a couple of

a. a pair of: a couple of guys

b. Informal a few: a couple of weeks

pron

a couple

a. two

b. Informal a few: give him a couple

Verb

[-pling, -pled]

1. to connect or link: an ingrained sense of shame, coupled with a fear of ridicule

2. Literary to have sexual intercourse [Latin copula a bond]

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	couple - a pair who associate with one another; "the engaged couple"; "an inseparable twosome" twosome, duet, duo pair - two people considered as a unit same-sex marriage - two people of the same sex who live together as a family; "the legal status of same-sex marriages has been hotly debated"
	2.	couple - a pair of people who live together; "a married couple from Chicago" mates, match family unit, family - primary social group; parents and children; "he wanted to have a good job before starting a family" power couple - a couple both of whom have high-powered careers or are politically influential DINK - a couple who both have careers and no children (an acronym for dual income no kids)
	3.	couple - a small indefinite number; "he's coming for a couple of days" small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity - an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude
	4.	couple - two items of the same kind couplet, distich, duad, duet, duo, dyad, twain, twosome, brace, pair, span, yoke fellow, mate - one of a pair; "he lost the mate to his shoe"; "one eye was blue but its fellow was brown" 2, II, two, deuce - the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number doubleton - (bridge) a pair of playing cards that are the only cards in their suit in the hand dealt to a player
	5.	couple - (physics) something joined by two equal and opposite forces that act along parallel lines natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics" dipole - a pair of equal and opposite electric charges or magnetic poles separated by a small distance building block, unit - a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else; "units of nucleic acids" moment of a couple - given two equal and opposite forces, the product of the force and the distance between them
Verb	1.	couple - bring two objects, ideas, or people together; "This fact is coupled to the other one"; "Matchmaker, can you match my daughter with a nice young man?"; "The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project" mate, pair, twin, match match - give or join in marriage mismate - provide with an unsuitable mate mismatch - match badly; match two objects or people that do not go together bring together, join - cause to become joined or linked; "join these two parts so that they fit together"
	2.	couple - link together; "can we couple these proposals?" couple on, couple up attach - cause to be attached decouple, uncouple - disconnect or separate; "uncouple the hounds"
	3.	couple - form a pair or pairs; "The two old friends paired off" pair, pair off, partner off unite, unify - act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief
	4.	couple - engage in sexual intercourse; "Birds mate in the Spring" copulate, mate, pair nick - mate successfully; of livestock conjoin, join - make contact or come together; "The two roads join here" bonk, do it, eff, fuck, get it on, get laid, have a go at it, have intercourse, have it away, have it off, have sex, be intimate, lie with, roll in the hay, screw, sleep together, sleep with, make love, hump, jazz, love, bed, bang, make out, know - have sexual intercourse with; "This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm"; "Adam knew Eve"; "Were you ever intimate with this man?" tread - mate with; "male birds tread the females" service, serve - mate with; "male animals serve the females for breeding purposes" deflower, ruin - deprive of virginity; "This dirty old man deflowered several young girls in the village" mount, ride - copulate with; "The bull was riding the cow" breed, cover - copulate with a female, used especially of horses; "The horse covers the mare" bugger, sodomise, sodomize - practice anal sex upon sodomise, sodomize - copulate with an animal