Etymologically
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couch

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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
  • 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