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Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

couch

/ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/

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What does couch mean?

noun

  1. 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.
More meanings (18)

noun

  1. A preliminary layer, as of colour or size.
  2. A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley.
  3. Psychotherapy.
  4. (figuratively) Voters who opt out of voting, usually by staying home on their couch.
  5. Couch grass, a species of persistent grass, Elymus repens, usually considered a weed.

verb

  1. To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).
  2. To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch.
  3. To lay something upon a bed or other resting place.
  4. To arrange or dispose as if in a bed.
  5. To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.
  6. To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack.
  7. In the treatment of a cataract in the eye, to displace the opaque lens with a sharp object such as a needle. The technique is regarded as largely obsolete.
  8. To transfer (for example, sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying.
  9. To attach a thread onto fabric with small stitches in order to add texture.
  10. To phrase in a particular style; to use specific wording for.
  11. (archaic) To lie down for concealment; to conceal, to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly or secretly.

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Mason County, West Virginia, United States.
Wiktionary contributors Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

The inmate was lying in troubled slumber upon a couch similar to that on which the Palmer himself had passed the night.
Walter ScottIvanhoe: A RomanceProject Gutenberg ebook #82
O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock, To lip a wanton in a secure couch, And to suppose her chaste!
William ShakespeareThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg ebook #100
More book examples (3)
She was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown of blue and silver, but a black sequin-covered dinner-dress lay upon the couch beside her.
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Return of Sherlock HolmesProject Gutenberg ebook #108
The narrow couch in the next attic was more comfortable that night than its occupant had ever dreamed that it could be.
Frances Hodgson BurnettA Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first timeProject Gutenberg ebook #146
Julia Pendleton comes into my room to do geometry, and she sits cross-legged on the couch and wears silk stockings every night.
Jean WebsterDaddy-Long-LegsProject Gutenberg ebook #157