couple

couple
[[t]kʌ̱p(ə)l[/t]]
♦♦
couples, coupling, coupled
1) QUANT: QUANT of pl-n If you refer to a couple of people or things, you mean two or approximately two of them, although the exact number is not important or you are not sure of it. [INFORMAL]

Across the street from me there are a couple of police officers standing guard...

I think the trouble will clear up in a couple of days.

...a small working-class town in Massachusetts, a couple of hundred miles from New York City.

DET
Couple is also a determiner in spoken American English, and before `more' and `less'.

...a couple weeks before the election... I think I can play maybe for a couple more years.

PRON
Couple is also a pronoun.

I've got a couple that don't look too bad.

2) N-COUNT-COLL A couple is two people who are married, living together, or having a sexual relationship.

The couple have no children.

...after burglars ransacked an elderly couple's home.

...an isolated spot popular with courting couples.

3) N-COUNT-COLL A couple is two people that you see together on a particular occasion or that have some association.

...as the four couples began the opening dance...

They were an odd couple.

4) VERB: usu passive If you say that one thing produces a particular effect when it is coupled with another, you mean that the two things combine to produce that effect.

[be V-ed with n] ...a problem that is coupled with lower demand for the machines themselves...

[V-ed] Over-use of those drugs, coupled with poor diet, leads to physical degeneration...

[V-ed] This, coupled with the fact that flying machines remained universally a subject for jeers and derision, made the brothers secretive.

Syn:
5) VERB: usu passive If one piece of equipment is coupled to another, it is joined to it so that the two pieces of equipment work together.

[be V-ed to n] Its engine is coupled to a semiautomatic gearbox...

[be V-ed together] The various elementary detector systems are coupled together in complex arrays.

Derived words:
coupling N-SING usu the N of n

The technique requires the coupling of a particle accelerator and a mass spectrometer.

6) → See also coupling

English dictionary. 2008.

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Synonyms:
, , (of the same kind), , , , , , , , / , , , , , / , , , ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • couple — [ kupl ] n. m. et f. • cople 1190; lat. copula « lien, liaison » I ♦ N. f. 1 ♦ Vén. Lien servant à attacher ensemble deux ou plusieurs animaux de même espèce. 2 ♦ Vx ou Région. Deux choses de même espèce. « une bonne couple de soufflets » (Mme de …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • couplé — couple [ kupl ] n. m. et f. • cople 1190; lat. copula « lien, liaison » I ♦ N. f. 1 ♦ Vén. Lien servant à attacher ensemble deux ou plusieurs animaux de même espèce. 2 ♦ Vx ou Région. Deux choses de même espèce. « une bonne couple de soufflets »… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Couple — Cou ple (k[u^]p l), n. [F. couple, fr. L. copula a bond, band; co + apere, aptum, to join. See {Art}, a., and cf. {Copula}.] 1. That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] It is in some sort with …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • couple — COUPLE. s. f. Deux choses de mesme espece qu on met ensemble. Une couple d oeufs. une couple de chapons. une couple de boëtes de confitures. une couple de bouteilles de vin. donnez m en une couple. ne luy en envoyez pas pour un, il faut luy… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • couple — 1. Couple, as in ‘a couple of…’, needs to be used and understood with care, as it retains its original meaning of ‘two’ alongside its more informal meaning ‘a few’. A couple of friends will usually mean two friends, no more or less, whereas a… …   Modern English usage

  • couple — COUPLE. subst. fém. Deux choses de même espèce qu on met ensemble. Une couple d oeufs. Une couple de chapons. Une couple de boîtes de confitures. Donnez m en une couple. [b]f♛/b] Il ne se dit jamais Des choses qui vont nécessairement ensemble,… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • couple — n Couple, pair, brace, yoke are comparable when meaning two things of the same kind. Couple applies to two things of the same sort, regarded as in some way associated, but not necessarily (except in the case of a married or mated pair) matched or …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • couple — Couple, f. C est ce qui se consiste en deux ou de deux, ou pour mieux dire les deux choses mesmes, comme une couple de chevaux, Par equorum. Il vient de Copula, qui vient de Copulare, mettre deux choses de mesme espece ensemble: car on ne dira… …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • couplé — couplé, ée (kou plé, plée) part. passé. Attaché avec une couple. •   ....Je vois qu ils se soucient D avoir chevaux à leur char attelés De même taille, et mêmes chiens couplés, LA FONT. Cal.. •   Nous fûmes envoyés au bagne couplés comme des… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • couple — [kup′əl] n. [ME < OFr cople < L copula, a band, link: see COPULA] 1. anything joining two things together; bond; link 2. two things or persons of the same sort that are somehow associated 3. two people, esp. a man and woman, who are engaged …   English World dictionary

  • Couple — Cou ple, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Coupled} (k[u^]p ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Coupling} (k[u^]p l[i^]ng).] [F. coupler, fr. L. copulare. See {Couple}, n., and cf. {Copulate}, {Cobble}, v.] [1913 Webster] 1. To link or tie, as one thing to another; to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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