couch surfv.
/ˈkaʊtʃ ˌsəːf/, U.S. /ˈkaʊtʃ ˌsərf/ colloquial (originally and chiefly North American).
1. intransitive. To engage in sedentary activities such as watching television.
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1989 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Disp. 31 Aug. (St. Charles ed.) (Sports section) 5/5 ‘A lot of guys have back injuries,’ he said, chuckling. ‘They must have been couch surfing over the summer.’
1997 Tulsa (Oklahoma) World (Nexis) 28 May b1 Van Pelt enjoyed the first month away from golf. He didn't do much more than ‘couch surf’.
2008 Best Life Oct. 17 Develop a rotation, sporting your ratty college-era jeans while gardening and couch-surfing, and reserving sleeker styles for dining out or working.
2. intransitive. To sleep overnight on a couch (or in similar makeshift accommodations) as a house guest; spec. to do this in a series of homes, often as a substitute for permanent housing.
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1993 Washington Post 17 Feb. (Style section) 2/5 Young slackers who..have checked out of workaday life and live on the edges, roaming city streets..and ‘couch surfing’, sleeping in friends' living rooms.
1996 Rolling Stone 2 May 40/3 Both have friends who let them couch surf and stay on for a few days in each place.
2003 E. Waterston Then There was no Mountain 7 She resorted to couch surfing, staying wherever she could find floor space.
2007 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 20 Sept. d5/1 If I couch surf I could be on some cool ex-pat's or local's sofa.
2010 Independent (Nexis) 12 Mar. 44 I hate the fact that you can't get flats or jobs. That you're still couch surfing in your late 20s.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1989