couch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kaʊ̯t͡ʃ/; /kæʊ̯t͡ʃ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English couche, borrowed from Old French couche (“a bed, lair”), earlier culche,^[2][3][4] from couchier (“to lay down, put to bed”), from Latin collocāre (“to place together, put in place”),^[2][3][5] from com- (“together”) and locāre (“to place”) (see locate).^[3][2] It is a doublet of collocate.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bed or other structure for sleeping on: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[2][6] The verb, to lay something down or overlay, is from about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The lair of a wild beast is from 1398, and now especially the burrow of an otter.^[6] A long seat on which one reclines is from the mid-15th century; traditionally a couch has only the head end raised.^[3][6] The verb, to lie down, is late 14th-century, and to lie hidden from the 1580s.^[3] To put into words is from 1529, in Thomas More, and to express in a veiled way from 1563.^[2][3] The psychoanalyst's couch is a symbol of psychiatric treatment by 1952,^[3][6] and the couch potato is first recorded in 1979.^[3] The heraldic couchant is late 15th-century.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to lay down (verb).^[3]
• 1340 – a bed.^[2][6]
• mid-15th century – a reclining seat.^[3]
• 1529 – to put into words.^[2]
• 1952 – the analyst's couch.^[3]
• 1979 – couch potato.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long upholstered piece of furniture for sitting or lying on; a sofa.
2. A padded bed on which patients lie to be examined or psychoanalysed.

Verb

1. To express in a particular style of words: couched in legal terms.
2. To lower a spear or lance to the position of attack.
3. (archaic) To lie down, especially to sleep or hide.

Word family

• coucher
• couch potato
• casting couch

Related words

• couchant
• collocate
• locate
• couchette

Usage notes

Couch grass, a creeping weed, is a different word, a variant of quitch, from Old English cwice, living (see quick); it is recorded from the 1570s.^[3][7][8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press