Definition of couple in English:

couple

noun ˈkʌp(ə)lˈkəpəl

1Two people or things of the same sort considered together.
a couple of girls were playing marbles
Example sentencesExamples
- As the title suggests, this unlikely duo plays a couple of struggling actors.
- Fish were making their presence felt in every pool, including a couple of double figured salmon.
Synonyms
pair, duo, duology, twosome, set of two, match
doublets, twins
brace, span, yoke
two, two of a kind
rare duplet, dyad, duad, doubleton
archaic twain
1. 1.1 A pair of partners in a dance or game.
  Example sentencesExamples
  It is a linear dance - the couple dance forward and backward rather than around in circles.
  The couple danced many classical roles together, as well as pas de deux that Nixon choreographed.
  Lucky couples on the dance floor walked away with more than a dozen prizes during the course of the night.
  The school board said it had no choice but to let the couple attend the dance, given the ruling.
  Students were either at the center of the hall, dancing in couples or groups, or lounged around the tables, chatting amiably with their friends.
  A new couple whirled onto the dance floor and snatched her attention.
  By which she meant that, although they were the final couple to dance, they hadn't finished up on the bottom of the pile.
  Getting the message, each of the couples escaped to the dance floor.
  Servants and squires of every sort were running around after their lords and knights, and beautiful couples swept across the dance floor.
  The couples in the piece make an experience and a temporal transformation occurs.
  The band began to play a sixties medley and couples returned to the dance floor.
  Before they knew it, the couple had danced six dances and was beginning to feel weary.
  In the case of pair skaters and ice dance couples, one of the two individuals must fulfill the same requirement as for a singles skater.
  I do not dance well, but I delight in watching couples dance together, especially older couples.
2. 1.2 A pair of hunting dogs.
3. 1.3couples Two collars joined together and used for holding hounds together.
4. 1.4 A pair of rafters.
5. 1.5Mechanics A pair of equal and parallel forces acting in opposite directions, and tending to cause rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane containing them.
2treated as singular or plural Two people who are married or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually.
in three weeks the couple fell in love and became engaged
a honeymoon couple
Example sentencesExamples
- In that scrapbook there'll be pictures of everyone individually, and then pictures of the couples together.
- The dust swirled around in the perfect globe and came to settle at a pale green which matched the couples ' eyes.
- The couples were played by actors, but the doctors, lawyers, social workers, and the judge were all real life professionals acting as they would if this were a real case.
- He likes to look at the handsome couples and the odd couples, imagining how they met and what will happen to them next.
- None of the characters seems to like each other; the relationships between the couples appear to be based on mutual irritation and all seem self-preoccupied.
- Congratulations are extended to the newly married couple and their families.
- Most households consist of a married or unmarried couple and their children.
- Interestingly everyone agrees that the one thing keeping unhappy couples together is not the last vestige of love, but money.
- They found that the couples whose expectations matched their relationship skills were most satisfied.
- Nineteen couples from as far afield as Germany, England, Ghana and Taiwan said ‘I do’ on the island on Valentine's Day last year.
- Some couples choose to keep their main accounts separate, paying into a joint account to cover regular outgoings such as the mortgage and supermarket bills.
- These couples are self-sufficient; their careers, their interests, their travels are enough to give meaning to their lives.
- The two couples at the centre of the mix-up and the twins cannot be identified following a court order.
- I mean when you think about it, we really are like this old married couple.
- His family is being torn apart by his dad's alcoholism, his emotions are being torn as he sees his friends pair off into couples, and his job working on the railtracks is uninspiring.
- When we had left the hotel, I had felt like we were a married couple on our honeymoon.
- In the crowded halls of the huge college, the couples were pairing off quickly and heading off to get ready for dates, or parties.
- Divorce is a label that married couples hope will never be applied to them.
- I picked up the Sunday paper that weekend and saw a double-page spread full of interviews with the childless couples who had written to the woman in desperation.
- But couples buying property together should think beyond these points if they want to avoid costly disputes.
Synonyms
husband and wife, twosome
newly-weds, partners, lovers, cohabitees
informal item
3informal An indefinite small number.
as pronoun he hoped she'd be better in a couple of days
we got some eggs—would you like a couple?
as determiner just a couple more questions
clean the stains with a couple squirts dishwashing liquid
Example sentencesExamples
- It's an upright stick with a couple of bits of wood fixed to the top to make a cross.
- A couple of rusty old bits of farm machinery lay slowly dissolving beneath the sky.
- The cylinder timing was on but a bit slow on a couple of the stops, but it was still on and working.
- He said he even gave the police a hair sample a couple of days ago when they came in there.
- That question has a couple of answers, starting with the fact that they do go bankrupt a lot.
- I'm back in for two days to finish off a couple of bits for the last project I was working on.
- There are a couple of bits of the evidence that show they prepared them all in advance.
- I asked all these questions a couple of years ago, not believing in it at all.
- But you seem to have asked the question a couple of times, and I am a bit puzzled by that.
- I've had two full games for the reserves and a couple of bits here and there.
- At least enough to stop them from running around like a couple of headless chickens.
- You might be a little late to the debate, John, but you seem to have put your finger on a couple of the important bits.
- And I'd just like to ask a couple of questions about education level.
- Jim gave his regulator a couple of squirts on the purge button to reassure himself that his air was turned on.
- Then he stopped by the livestock dealer to buy a couple of chickens and a goose.
- So Jesse and I just went into the kitchen to get a couple of chicken sandwiches.
- Locate the marking tool on the door or jamb, and strike it sharply with a hammer a couple times.
- My guard had been increased and it was a small army of a couple of dozen soldiers who rattled around with me.
- Boil the liquid for a couple of minutes and then reduce to a simmer.
- So set the scene for me a little bit - a couple of grown men climbing around trees in the campus.
Synonyms
a few, two or three, a small number of
North American a couple

verb ˈkʌp(ə)lˈkəpəl

1often be coupled to/withwith object Link or combine (something) with something else.
a sense of hope is coupled with a palpable sense of loss
Example sentencesExamples
- In both cases, an intellectual commitment to liberty is coupled with quite extraordinary intolerance in practice.
- If this fact is coupled with the so called honour code of no ‘grassing’ on anyone, it becomes a problem.
- The arrival of autumn this year is coupled with the festival and tourist season and tourists have something to look forward to.
- The frequent power cuts have also compounded the problems for them and when it is coupled with the steep hike in prices, people feel that they have been caught between devil and deep sea.
- But when consumer uncertainty is coupled with doubts about corporate profitability there is precious little consolation.
- They work in fixed teams, where know-how is coupled with team work to provide the best possible service.
- That measure is coupled with a decision to exclude the banks' cash holdings for reserve requirement purposes.
- My call for compulsory voting is coupled with a call for proportional representation.
- This is due to the reason that the speed of the river is not very encouraging and when it is coupled with this phenomena, then it may lead to worse condition.
- Military power is not a panacea unless it is coupled with the soft skills of nation-building and, yes, global social work.
- It was coupled with a request for $70 million to study and develop new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time it would take to test them.
- This time, though, it was coupled with incompetence.
- My prodigious (if I may humbly say so myself) drinking is coupled with insatiable eating.
- But my current retreat is different because it is coupled with the denial of one of my favourite habits.
- The roots of jazz date back to around the 1890s when a blend of African music from the slaves on the plantations was coupled with European-American musical traditions.
- So, ultramodern technology is coupled with older modes of understanding.
- Hard-nosed deals are coupled with extraordinarily good staff relationships.
- The soaring burglary rate is coupled with a drug abuse epidemic that adds more violence to even the simplest of burglaries or muggings.
- This utilitarian approach to law is coupled with a general lack of enforcement in the traditional system.
- It is true that among our nation's founders, a firm belief in the marketplace was coupled with a belief in Providence.
Synonyms
combine, integrate, mix, incorporate, accompany, link, team, associate, connect, ally
add to, join to
formal conjoin
1. 1.1 Connect (a railway vehicle or a piece of equipment) to another.
  a cable is coupled up to one of the wheels
  Example sentencesExamples
  This done, the brand-new C&O dynamometer car was coupled on, and the tests began in May 1929.
  The best case for 12-inch speakers, with their drivers nearly touching, can provide coupling up to about 550 Hz.
  And true, Budd was late delivering the cars, but the whole train was coupled up and ready for service that August.
  You simply unhook, turn the truck around and couple up again.
  When two cars are coupled together there is a two or three scale foot gap between the diaphragms.
  You can drive around in the cab and when eventually you find a trailer section you can couple up - you're then in charge of a full 18 wheel articulated rig - complete with airbrakes and airhorn!
  That said, it's a very good engine, which is coupled to a sublime gearbox.
  With her right of way clear, No. 823 reversed through the loop and then forward down the freight road to couple up to the errant coach.
  The faster journeys would be achieved by cutting the number of times that trains have to be coupled and decoupled, a job that can take precious minutes.
  Larger terminals had their own steam plants to heat the trains prior to the locomotive coupling on.
  The dual mode engine was backed onto our train, coupling up with the frontmost of the three coaches.
  Synonyms
  harness, hitch, hitch up, tether, fasten, attach, join, join up, team
2. 1.2 Connect (two electrical components) using electromagnetic induction, electrostatic charge, or an optical link.
  resistors are used to couple the oscillators
  Example sentencesExamples
  At least two of the first plurality of circuit boards may be coupled to independently distribute power to each of the plurality of switch circuit boards.
  The passive antenna elements are coupled to selectable impedance components.
  These components are coupled into single mode optical fibers and detected by photodiodes.
  The buffer circuit further includes a write logic circuit that is coupled between the first buffer and the second buffer.
  The marker also has a transponder that is coupled to the tuned circuit.
  As a result, the boosting node and the source voltage can be prevented from being coupled by the transistor.
  Both metal shells are secured and electrically coupled to an electrically conductive end cap.
  Synonyms
  connect, attach, join, fasten, fix, link, secure, tie, bind, strap, rope, tether, truss, lash, hitch, yoke, chain
  stick, tape, glue, bond, cement, fuse, weld, solder
  pin, peg, screw, bolt, rivet, clamp, clip, hook (up)
  add, append, annex, subjoin
  technical concatenate
3. 1.3couple upno object Join to form a pair.
  the beetles may couple up to form a pair
  Example sentencesExamples
  So much is changing right now with Uni ending, my need to get a job, everyone leaving, everyone getting coupled up, I don't know how I'm going to manage.
  If he has friends that are coupled up, become couple friends - you and one of the ladies might really hit it off.
  There were only like, seven people there, and they were all coupled up except me.
  If we're going to be a couple up at camp then we should at least get to know each other a bit better.
  Sure, I like having some of my set activities, but I also like to mix things up at times, and I have lots of friends that I see regularly, even the ones that are coupled up.
  I've been asking my friends and colleagues if they know the word - because there must be a word - to describe someone who simply does not make it a priority to couple up with other people.
  And eventually, they - surprise surprise - couple up, thus fulfilling the primary buddy-movie necessity, that at least one buddy is visibly heterosexual.
  The ones who were single are all coupled up now and talking marriage, and the ones who were coupled up are married now and talking kids.
  Why is everyone coupling up and heading off to get naked?
  I was crying every day, I was calling in sick to work and I couldn't face meeting up with my friends who were all blissfully coupled up.
  The handsome teacher gets everyone coupled up, asks you to keep your upper bodies stiff and your hips loose, and puts on the first track.
  Its quartet of characters couple up on the Fourth of July, hoping for fireworks.
  After getting dumped by her golf-pro boyfriend, she couples up with a nicer example of one of the enemy, a landscape architect.
  Aimed at singletons and those who are happily coupled up but want to meet new people, the night is a cross between speed-dating and a book club, aimed at those in their 20s to 40s.
  Seeing all the happy people coupled up and ready to make it official only reminded her of her own situation.
  People in an approximation of street dress (in other words, us) meet on the run and couple up for fleeting moments.
  Honestly, I figured that meant coupling up, but wasn't sure.
  A lot of the students there were coupled up and dancing close together, staring into each other's eyes or kissing.
2no object Mate or have sexual intercourse.
as middle-class youth grew more tolerant of sex, they started to couple more often
Example sentencesExamples
- In the city of a million hovels, a million lovers coupled to the signs of the seasons.
- When a courted female permits mating, the pair remain coupled, end to end, for many hours, even a day.
- Then, when they coupled, he felt his very bones melting within his body.
Synonyms
mate, breed

Derivatives

coupledom

noun

Have a civil ceremony to receive the legal benefits of coupledom.
Example sentencesExamples
- Nobody really wants to hear about what happens after ‘Happy Ever After’ came - and for me, I settled into coupledom at 20 and have been there ever since.
- Consider, for instance, the endless regulations and interdictions that provide the texture of domestic coupledom.
- I don't think it's that hard to figure out why withdrawing into exclusive coupledom is unhealthy in the long run.
- Having the notion of happy coupledom shoved down our throats at every turn during the weeks preceding Valentine's Day is a turn off to many.

Origin

Middle English: from Old French cople (noun), copler (verb), from Latin copula (noun), copulare (verb), from co- 'together' + apere 'fasten'. Compare with copula and copulate.

This comes via Old French from Latin copulare formed from co- ‘together’ and apere ‘fasten’. The term couplet (late 16th century) used in poetry for a pair of successive (usually rhyming) lines, means literally ‘little pair’. Copulate (Late Middle English) at first meant ‘join’ and is from the same source.

Rhymes

supple

Definition of couple in US English:

couple

nounˈkəpəlˈkəpəl

1Two individuals of the same sort considered together.
a couple of girls were playing marbles
Example sentencesExamples
- As the title suggests, this unlikely duo plays a couple of struggling actors.
- Fish were making their presence felt in every pool, including a couple of double figured salmon.
Synonyms
pair, duo, duology, twosome, set of two, match
1. 1.1 A pair of partners in a dance or game.
  Example sentencesExamples
  In the case of pair skaters and ice dance couples, one of the two individuals must fulfill the same requirement as for a singles skater.
  Before they knew it, the couple had danced six dances and was beginning to feel weary.
  The school board said it had no choice but to let the couple attend the dance, given the ruling.
  Getting the message, each of the couples escaped to the dance floor.
  By which she meant that, although they were the final couple to dance, they hadn't finished up on the bottom of the pile.
  It is a linear dance - the couple dance forward and backward rather than around in circles.
  The couple danced many classical roles together, as well as pas de deux that Nixon choreographed.
  Servants and squires of every sort were running around after their lords and knights, and beautiful couples swept across the dance floor.
  I do not dance well, but I delight in watching couples dance together, especially older couples.
  The band began to play a sixties medley and couples returned to the dance floor.
  The couples in the piece make an experience and a temporal transformation occurs.
  A new couple whirled onto the dance floor and snatched her attention.
  Lucky couples on the dance floor walked away with more than a dozen prizes during the course of the night.
  Students were either at the center of the hall, dancing in couples or groups, or lounged around the tables, chatting amiably with their friends.
2. 1.2Mechanics A pair of equal and parallel forces acting in opposite directions, and tending to cause rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane containing them.
2treated as singular or plural Two people who are married, engaged, or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually.
Example sentencesExamples
- But couples buying property together should think beyond these points if they want to avoid costly disputes.
- Some couples choose to keep their main accounts separate, paying into a joint account to cover regular outgoings such as the mortgage and supermarket bills.
- The couples were played by actors, but the doctors, lawyers, social workers, and the judge were all real life professionals acting as they would if this were a real case.
- None of the characters seems to like each other; the relationships between the couples appear to be based on mutual irritation and all seem self-preoccupied.
- In the crowded halls of the huge college, the couples were pairing off quickly and heading off to get ready for dates, or parties.
- They found that the couples whose expectations matched their relationship skills were most satisfied.
- His family is being torn apart by his dad's alcoholism, his emotions are being torn as he sees his friends pair off into couples, and his job working on the railtracks is uninspiring.
- In that scrapbook there'll be pictures of everyone individually, and then pictures of the couples together.
- The dust swirled around in the perfect globe and came to settle at a pale green which matched the couples ' eyes.
- These couples are self-sufficient; their careers, their interests, their travels are enough to give meaning to their lives.
- Nineteen couples from as far afield as Germany, England, Ghana and Taiwan said ‘I do’ on the island on Valentine's Day last year.
- Interestingly everyone agrees that the one thing keeping unhappy couples together is not the last vestige of love, but money.
- Most households consist of a married or unmarried couple and their children.
- Congratulations are extended to the newly married couple and their families.
- He likes to look at the handsome couples and the odd couples, imagining how they met and what will happen to them next.
- When we had left the hotel, I had felt like we were a married couple on our honeymoon.
- The two couples at the centre of the mix-up and the twins cannot be identified following a court order.
- I picked up the Sunday paper that weekend and saw a double-page spread full of interviews with the childless couples who had written to the woman in desperation.
- I mean when you think about it, we really are like this old married couple.
- Divorce is a label that married couples hope will never be applied to them.
Synonyms
husband and wife, twosome
3informal An indefinite small number.
he hoped she'd be better in a couple of days
as pronoun we got some eggs—would you like a couple?
as determiner just a couple more questions
clean the stains with a couple squirts of dishwashing liquid
Example sentencesExamples
- My guard had been increased and it was a small army of a couple of dozen soldiers who rattled around with me.
- That question has a couple of answers, starting with the fact that they do go bankrupt a lot.
- You might be a little late to the debate, John, but you seem to have put your finger on a couple of the important bits.
- He said he even gave the police a hair sample a couple of days ago when they came in there.
- Jim gave his regulator a couple of squirts on the purge button to reassure himself that his air was turned on.
- And I'd just like to ask a couple of questions about education level.
- So Jesse and I just went into the kitchen to get a couple of chicken sandwiches.
- The cylinder timing was on but a bit slow on a couple of the stops, but it was still on and working.
- I've had two full games for the reserves and a couple of bits here and there.
- At least enough to stop them from running around like a couple of headless chickens.
- It's an upright stick with a couple of bits of wood fixed to the top to make a cross.
- A couple of rusty old bits of farm machinery lay slowly dissolving beneath the sky.
- Then he stopped by the livestock dealer to buy a couple of chickens and a goose.
- I'm back in for two days to finish off a couple of bits for the last project I was working on.
- So set the scene for me a little bit - a couple of grown men climbing around trees in the campus.
- There are a couple of bits of the evidence that show they prepared them all in advance.
- Locate the marking tool on the door or jamb, and strike it sharply with a hammer a couple times.
- But you seem to have asked the question a couple of times, and I am a bit puzzled by that.
- Boil the liquid for a couple of minutes and then reduce to a simmer.
- I asked all these questions a couple of years ago, not believing in it at all.
Synonyms
a few, two or three, a small number of

verbˈkəpəlˈkəpəl

1often be coupled to/withwith object Combine.
a sense of hope is coupled with a palpable sense of loss
Example sentencesExamples
- This utilitarian approach to law is coupled with a general lack of enforcement in the traditional system.
- The arrival of autumn this year is coupled with the festival and tourist season and tourists have something to look forward to.
- This time, though, it was coupled with incompetence.
- The soaring burglary rate is coupled with a drug abuse epidemic that adds more violence to even the simplest of burglaries or muggings.
- It was coupled with a request for $70 million to study and develop new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time it would take to test them.
- Hard-nosed deals are coupled with extraordinarily good staff relationships.
- The frequent power cuts have also compounded the problems for them and when it is coupled with the steep hike in prices, people feel that they have been caught between devil and deep sea.
- My prodigious (if I may humbly say so myself) drinking is coupled with insatiable eating.
- The roots of jazz date back to around the 1890s when a blend of African music from the slaves on the plantations was coupled with European-American musical traditions.
- This is due to the reason that the speed of the river is not very encouraging and when it is coupled with this phenomena, then it may lead to worse condition.
- That measure is coupled with a decision to exclude the banks' cash holdings for reserve requirement purposes.
- But my current retreat is different because it is coupled with the denial of one of my favourite habits.
- It is true that among our nation's founders, a firm belief in the marketplace was coupled with a belief in Providence.
- In both cases, an intellectual commitment to liberty is coupled with quite extraordinary intolerance in practice.
- Military power is not a panacea unless it is coupled with the soft skills of nation-building and, yes, global social work.
- My call for compulsory voting is coupled with a call for proportional representation.
- They work in fixed teams, where know-how is coupled with team work to provide the best possible service.
- But when consumer uncertainty is coupled with doubts about corporate profitability there is precious little consolation.
- If this fact is coupled with the so called honour code of no ‘grassing’ on anyone, it becomes a problem.
- So, ultramodern technology is coupled with older modes of understanding.
Synonyms
combine, integrate, mix, incorporate, accompany, link, team, associate, connect, ally
1. 1.1 Connect (a railroad vehicle or a piece of equipment) to another.
  a cable is coupled up to one of the wheels
  Example sentencesExamples
  The dual mode engine was backed onto our train, coupling up with the frontmost of the three coaches.
  And true, Budd was late delivering the cars, but the whole train was coupled up and ready for service that August.
  You can drive around in the cab and when eventually you find a trailer section you can couple up - you're then in charge of a full 18 wheel articulated rig - complete with airbrakes and airhorn!
  That said, it's a very good engine, which is coupled to a sublime gearbox.
  Larger terminals had their own steam plants to heat the trains prior to the locomotive coupling on.
  You simply unhook, turn the truck around and couple up again.
  With her right of way clear, No. 823 reversed through the loop and then forward down the freight road to couple up to the errant coach.
  This done, the brand-new C&O dynamometer car was coupled on, and the tests began in May 1929.
  When two cars are coupled together there is a two or three scale foot gap between the diaphragms.
  The faster journeys would be achieved by cutting the number of times that trains have to be coupled and decoupled, a job that can take precious minutes.
  The best case for 12-inch speakers, with their drivers nearly touching, can provide coupling up to about 550 Hz.
  Synonyms
  harness, hitch, hitch up, tether, fasten, attach, join, join up, team
2. 1.2 Connect (two electrical components) using electromagnetic induction, electrostatic charge, or an optical link.
  resistors are used to couple the oscillators
  Example sentencesExamples
  As a result, the boosting node and the source voltage can be prevented from being coupled by the transistor.
  These components are coupled into single mode optical fibers and detected by photodiodes.
  The buffer circuit further includes a write logic circuit that is coupled between the first buffer and the second buffer.
  Both metal shells are secured and electrically coupled to an electrically conductive end cap.
  The marker also has a transponder that is coupled to the tuned circuit.
  The passive antenna elements are coupled to selectable impedance components.
  At least two of the first plurality of circuit boards may be coupled to independently distribute power to each of the plurality of switch circuit boards.
  Synonyms
  connect, attach, join, fasten, fix, link, secure, tie, bind, strap, rope, tether, truss, lash, hitch, yoke, chain
3. 1.3couple upno object Join to form a pair.
  Example sentencesExamples
  Why is everyone coupling up and heading off to get naked?
  The ones who were single are all coupled up now and talking marriage, and the ones who were coupled up are married now and talking kids.
  There were only like, seven people there, and they were all coupled up except me.
  I've been asking my friends and colleagues if they know the word - because there must be a word - to describe someone who simply does not make it a priority to couple up with other people.
  Aimed at singletons and those who are happily coupled up but want to meet new people, the night is a cross between speed-dating and a book club, aimed at those in their 20s to 40s.
  Seeing all the happy people coupled up and ready to make it official only reminded her of her own situation.
  I was crying every day, I was calling in sick to work and I couldn't face meeting up with my friends who were all blissfully coupled up.
  Honestly, I figured that meant coupling up, but wasn't sure.
  The handsome teacher gets everyone coupled up, asks you to keep your upper bodies stiff and your hips loose, and puts on the first track.
  So much is changing right now with Uni ending, my need to get a job, everyone leaving, everyone getting coupled up, I don't know how I'm going to manage.
  After getting dumped by her golf-pro boyfriend, she couples up with a nicer example of one of the enemy, a landscape architect.
  People in an approximation of street dress (in other words, us) meet on the run and couple up for fleeting moments.
  If he has friends that are coupled up, become couple friends - you and one of the ladies might really hit it off.
  Sure, I like having some of my set activities, but I also like to mix things up at times, and I have lots of friends that I see regularly, even the ones that are coupled up.
  Its quartet of characters couple up on the Fourth of July, hoping for fireworks.
  A lot of the students there were coupled up and dancing close together, staring into each other's eyes or kissing.
  If we're going to be a couple up at camp then we should at least get to know each other a bit better.
  And eventually, they - surprise surprise - couple up, thus fulfilling the primary buddy-movie necessity, that at least one buddy is visibly heterosexual.
2no object Mate or have sexual intercourse.
Example sentencesExamples
- When a courted female permits mating, the pair remain coupled, end to end, for many hours, even a day.
- Then, when they coupled, he felt his very bones melting within his body.
- In the city of a million hovels, a million lovers coupled to the signs of the seasons.
Synonyms
mate, breed

Origin

Middle English: from Old French cople (noun), copler (verb), from Latin copula (noun), copulare (verb), from co- ‘together’ + apere ‘fasten’. Compare with copula and copulate.

单词	couple
释义	Definition of couple in English: couple noun ˈkʌp(ə)lˈkəpəl 1Two people or things of the same sort considered together. a couple of girls were playing marbles Example sentencesExamples As the title suggests, this unlikely duo plays a couple of struggling actors. Fish were making their presence felt in every pool, including a couple of double figured salmon. Synonyms pair, duo, duology, twosome, set of two, match doublets, twins brace, span, yoke two, two of a kind rare duplet, dyad, duad, doubleton archaic twain 1.1 A pair of partners in a dance or game. Example sentencesExamples It is a linear dance - the couple dance forward and backward rather than around in circles. The couple danced many classical roles together, as well as pas de deux that Nixon choreographed. Lucky couples on the dance floor walked away with more than a dozen prizes during the course of the night. The school board said it had no choice but to let the couple attend the dance, given the ruling. Students were either at the center of the hall, dancing in couples or groups, or lounged around the tables, chatting amiably with their friends. A new couple whirled onto the dance floor and snatched her attention. By which she meant that, although they were the final couple to dance, they hadn't finished up on the bottom of the pile. Getting the message, each of the couples escaped to the dance floor. Servants and squires of every sort were running around after their lords and knights, and beautiful couples swept across the dance floor. The couples in the piece make an experience and a temporal transformation occurs. The band began to play a sixties medley and couples returned to the dance floor. Before they knew it, the couple had danced six dances and was beginning to feel weary. In the case of pair skaters and ice dance couples, one of the two individuals must fulfill the same requirement as for a singles skater. I do not dance well, but I delight in watching couples dance together, especially older couples. 1.2 A pair of hunting dogs. 1.3couples Two collars joined together and used for holding hounds together. 1.4 A pair of rafters. 1.5Mechanics A pair of equal and parallel forces acting in opposite directions, and tending to cause rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane containing them. 2treated as singular or plural Two people who are married or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually. in three weeks the couple fell in love and became engaged a honeymoon couple Example sentencesExamples In that scrapbook there'll be pictures of everyone individually, and then pictures of the couples together. The dust swirled around in the perfect globe and came to settle at a pale green which matched the couples ' eyes. The couples were played by actors, but the doctors, lawyers, social workers, and the judge were all real life professionals acting as they would if this were a real case. He likes to look at the handsome couples and the odd couples, imagining how they met and what will happen to them next. None of the characters seems to like each other; the relationships between the couples appear to be based on mutual irritation and all seem self-preoccupied. Congratulations are extended to the newly married couple and their families. Most households consist of a married or unmarried couple and their children. Interestingly everyone agrees that the one thing keeping unhappy couples together is not the last vestige of love, but money. They found that the couples whose expectations matched their relationship skills were most satisfied. Nineteen couples from as far afield as Germany, England, Ghana and Taiwan said ‘I do’ on the island on Valentine's Day last year. Some couples choose to keep their main accounts separate, paying into a joint account to cover regular outgoings such as the mortgage and supermarket bills. These couples are self-sufficient; their careers, their interests, their travels are enough to give meaning to their lives. The two couples at the centre of the mix-up and the twins cannot be identified following a court order. I mean when you think about it, we really are like this old married couple. His family is being torn apart by his dad's alcoholism, his emotions are being torn as he sees his friends pair off into couples, and his job working on the railtracks is uninspiring. When we had left the hotel, I had felt like we were a married couple on our honeymoon. In the crowded halls of the huge college, the couples were pairing off quickly and heading off to get ready for dates, or parties. Divorce is a label that married couples hope will never be applied to them. I picked up the Sunday paper that weekend and saw a double-page spread full of interviews with the childless couples who had written to the woman in desperation. But couples buying property together should think beyond these points if they want to avoid costly disputes. Synonyms husband and wife, twosome newly-weds, partners, lovers, cohabitees informal item 3informal An indefinite small number. as pronoun he hoped she'd be better in a couple of days we got some eggs—would you like a couple? as determiner just a couple more questions clean the stains with a couple squirts dishwashing liquid Example sentencesExamples It's an upright stick with a couple of bits of wood fixed to the top to make a cross. A couple of rusty old bits of farm machinery lay slowly dissolving beneath the sky. The cylinder timing was on but a bit slow on a couple of the stops, but it was still on and working. He said he even gave the police a hair sample a couple of days ago when they came in there. That question has a couple of answers, starting with the fact that they do go bankrupt a lot. I'm back in for two days to finish off a couple of bits for the last project I was working on. There are a couple of bits of the evidence that show they prepared them all in advance. I asked all these questions a couple of years ago, not believing in it at all. But you seem to have asked the question a couple of times, and I am a bit puzzled by that. I've had two full games for the reserves and a couple of bits here and there. At least enough to stop them from running around like a couple of headless chickens. You might be a little late to the debate, John, but you seem to have put your finger on a couple of the important bits. And I'd just like to ask a couple of questions about education level. Jim gave his regulator a couple of squirts on the purge button to reassure himself that his air was turned on. Then he stopped by the livestock dealer to buy a couple of chickens and a goose. So Jesse and I just went into the kitchen to get a couple of chicken sandwiches. Locate the marking tool on the door or jamb, and strike it sharply with a hammer a couple times. My guard had been increased and it was a small army of a couple of dozen soldiers who rattled around with me. Boil the liquid for a couple of minutes and then reduce to a simmer. So set the scene for me a little bit - a couple of grown men climbing around trees in the campus. Synonyms a few, two or three, a small number of North American a couple verb ˈkʌp(ə)lˈkəpəl 1often be coupled to/withwith object Link or combine (something) with something else. a sense of hope is coupled with a palpable sense of loss Example sentencesExamples In both cases, an intellectual commitment to liberty is coupled with quite extraordinary intolerance in practice. If this fact is coupled with the so called honour code of no ‘grassing’ on anyone, it becomes a problem. The arrival of autumn this year is coupled with the festival and tourist season and tourists have something to look forward to. The frequent power cuts have also compounded the problems for them and when it is coupled with the steep hike in prices, people feel that they have been caught between devil and deep sea. But when consumer uncertainty is coupled with doubts about corporate profitability there is precious little consolation. They work in fixed teams, where know-how is coupled with team work to provide the best possible service. That measure is coupled with a decision to exclude the banks' cash holdings for reserve requirement purposes. My call for compulsory voting is coupled with a call for proportional representation. This is due to the reason that the speed of the river is not very encouraging and when it is coupled with this phenomena, then it may lead to worse condition. Military power is not a panacea unless it is coupled with the soft skills of nation-building and, yes, global social work. It was coupled with a request for $70 million to study and develop new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time it would take to test them. This time, though, it was coupled with incompetence. My prodigious (if I may humbly say so myself) drinking is coupled with insatiable eating. But my current retreat is different because it is coupled with the denial of one of my favourite habits. The roots of jazz date back to around the 1890s when a blend of African music from the slaves on the plantations was coupled with European-American musical traditions. So, ultramodern technology is coupled with older modes of understanding. Hard-nosed deals are coupled with extraordinarily good staff relationships. The soaring burglary rate is coupled with a drug abuse epidemic that adds more violence to even the simplest of burglaries or muggings. This utilitarian approach to law is coupled with a general lack of enforcement in the traditional system. It is true that among our nation's founders, a firm belief in the marketplace was coupled with a belief in Providence. Synonyms combine, integrate, mix, incorporate, accompany, link, team, associate, connect, ally add to, join to formal conjoin 1.1 Connect (a railway vehicle or a piece of equipment) to another. a cable is coupled up to one of the wheels Example sentencesExamples This done, the brand-new C&O dynamometer car was coupled on, and the tests began in May 1929. The best case for 12-inch speakers, with their drivers nearly touching, can provide coupling up to about 550 Hz. And true, Budd was late delivering the cars, but the whole train was coupled up and ready for service that August. You simply unhook, turn the truck around and couple up again. When two cars are coupled together there is a two or three scale foot gap between the diaphragms. You can drive around in the cab and when eventually you find a trailer section you can couple up - you're then in charge of a full 18 wheel articulated rig - complete with airbrakes and airhorn! That said, it's a very good engine, which is coupled to a sublime gearbox. With her right of way clear, No. 823 reversed through the loop and then forward down the freight road to couple up to the errant coach. The faster journeys would be achieved by cutting the number of times that trains have to be coupled and decoupled, a job that can take precious minutes. Larger terminals had their own steam plants to heat the trains prior to the locomotive coupling on. The dual mode engine was backed onto our train, coupling up with the frontmost of the three coaches. Synonyms harness, hitch, hitch up, tether, fasten, attach, join, join up, team 1.2 Connect (two electrical components) using electromagnetic induction, electrostatic charge, or an optical link. resistors are used to couple the oscillators Example sentencesExamples At least two of the first plurality of circuit boards may be coupled to independently distribute power to each of the plurality of switch circuit boards. The passive antenna elements are coupled to selectable impedance components. These components are coupled into single mode optical fibers and detected by photodiodes. The buffer circuit further includes a write logic circuit that is coupled between the first buffer and the second buffer. The marker also has a transponder that is coupled to the tuned circuit. As a result, the boosting node and the source voltage can be prevented from being coupled by the transistor. Both metal shells are secured and electrically coupled to an electrically conductive end cap. Synonyms connect, attach, join, fasten, fix, link, secure, tie, bind, strap, rope, tether, truss, lash, hitch, yoke, chain stick, tape, glue, bond, cement, fuse, weld, solder pin, peg, screw, bolt, rivet, clamp, clip, hook (up) add, append, annex, subjoin technical concatenate 1.3couple upno object Join to form a pair. the beetles may couple up to form a pair Example sentencesExamples So much is changing right now with Uni ending, my need to get a job, everyone leaving, everyone getting coupled up, I don't know how I'm going to manage. If he has friends that are coupled up, become couple friends - you and one of the ladies might really hit it off. There were only like, seven people there, and they were all coupled up except me. If we're going to be a couple up at camp then we should at least get to know each other a bit better. Sure, I like having some of my set activities, but I also like to mix things up at times, and I have lots of friends that I see regularly, even the ones that are coupled up. I've been asking my friends and colleagues if they know the word - because there must be a word - to describe someone who simply does not make it a priority to couple up with other people. And eventually, they - surprise surprise - couple up, thus fulfilling the primary buddy-movie necessity, that at least one buddy is visibly heterosexual. The ones who were single are all coupled up now and talking marriage, and the ones who were coupled up are married now and talking kids. Why is everyone coupling up and heading off to get naked? I was crying every day, I was calling in sick to work and I couldn't face meeting up with my friends who were all blissfully coupled up. The handsome teacher gets everyone coupled up, asks you to keep your upper bodies stiff and your hips loose, and puts on the first track. Its quartet of characters couple up on the Fourth of July, hoping for fireworks. After getting dumped by her golf-pro boyfriend, she couples up with a nicer example of one of the enemy, a landscape architect. Aimed at singletons and those who are happily coupled up but want to meet new people, the night is a cross between speed-dating and a book club, aimed at those in their 20s to 40s. Seeing all the happy people coupled up and ready to make it official only reminded her of her own situation. People in an approximation of street dress (in other words, us) meet on the run and couple up for fleeting moments. Honestly, I figured that meant coupling up, but wasn't sure. A lot of the students there were coupled up and dancing close together, staring into each other's eyes or kissing. 2no object Mate or have sexual intercourse. as middle-class youth grew more tolerant of sex, they started to couple more often Example sentencesExamples In the city of a million hovels, a million lovers coupled to the signs of the seasons. When a courted female permits mating, the pair remain coupled, end to end, for many hours, even a day. Then, when they coupled, he felt his very bones melting within his body. Synonyms mate, breed Derivatives coupledom noun Have a civil ceremony to receive the legal benefits of coupledom. Example sentencesExamples Nobody really wants to hear about what happens after ‘Happy Ever After’ came - and for me, I settled into coupledom at 20 and have been there ever since. Consider, for instance, the endless regulations and interdictions that provide the texture of domestic coupledom. I don't think it's that hard to figure out why withdrawing into exclusive coupledom is unhealthy in the long run. Having the notion of happy coupledom shoved down our throats at every turn during the weeks preceding Valentine's Day is a turn off to many. Origin Middle English: from Old French cople (noun), copler (verb), from Latin copula (noun), copulare (verb), from co- 'together' + apere 'fasten'. Compare with copula and copulate. This comes via Old French from Latin copulare formed from co- ‘together’ and apere ‘fasten’. The term couplet (late 16th century) used in poetry for a pair of successive (usually rhyming) lines, means literally ‘little pair’. Copulate (Late Middle English) at first meant ‘join’ and is from the same source. Rhymes supple Definition of couple in US English: couple nounˈkəpəlˈkəpəl 1Two individuals of the same sort considered together. a couple of girls were playing marbles Example sentencesExamples As the title suggests, this unlikely duo plays a couple of struggling actors. Fish were making their presence felt in every pool, including a couple of double figured salmon. Synonyms pair, duo, duology, twosome, set of two, match 1.1 A pair of partners in a dance or game. Example sentencesExamples In the case of pair skaters and ice dance couples, one of the two individuals must fulfill the same requirement as for a singles skater. Before they knew it, the couple had danced six dances and was beginning to feel weary. The school board said it had no choice but to let the couple attend the dance, given the ruling. Getting the message, each of the couples escaped to the dance floor. By which she meant that, although they were the final couple to dance, they hadn't finished up on the bottom of the pile. It is a linear dance - the couple dance forward and backward rather than around in circles. The couple danced many classical roles together, as well as pas de deux that Nixon choreographed. Servants and squires of every sort were running around after their lords and knights, and beautiful couples swept across the dance floor. I do not dance well, but I delight in watching couples dance together, especially older couples. The band began to play a sixties medley and couples returned to the dance floor. The couples in the piece make an experience and a temporal transformation occurs. A new couple whirled onto the dance floor and snatched her attention. Lucky couples on the dance floor walked away with more than a dozen prizes during the course of the night. Students were either at the center of the hall, dancing in couples or groups, or lounged around the tables, chatting amiably with their friends. 1.2Mechanics A pair of equal and parallel forces acting in opposite directions, and tending to cause rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane containing them. 2treated as singular or plural Two people who are married, engaged, or otherwise closely associated romantically or sexually. Example sentencesExamples But couples buying property together should think beyond these points if they want to avoid costly disputes. Some couples choose to keep their main accounts separate, paying into a joint account to cover regular outgoings such as the mortgage and supermarket bills. The couples were played by actors, but the doctors, lawyers, social workers, and the judge were all real life professionals acting as they would if this were a real case. None of the characters seems to like each other; the relationships between the couples appear to be based on mutual irritation and all seem self-preoccupied. In the crowded halls of the huge college, the couples were pairing off quickly and heading off to get ready for dates, or parties. They found that the couples whose expectations matched their relationship skills were most satisfied. His family is being torn apart by his dad's alcoholism, his emotions are being torn as he sees his friends pair off into couples, and his job working on the railtracks is uninspiring. In that scrapbook there'll be pictures of everyone individually, and then pictures of the couples together. The dust swirled around in the perfect globe and came to settle at a pale green which matched the couples ' eyes. These couples are self-sufficient; their careers, their interests, their travels are enough to give meaning to their lives. Nineteen couples from as far afield as Germany, England, Ghana and Taiwan said ‘I do’ on the island on Valentine's Day last year. Interestingly everyone agrees that the one thing keeping unhappy couples together is not the last vestige of love, but money. Most households consist of a married or unmarried couple and their children. Congratulations are extended to the newly married couple and their families. He likes to look at the handsome couples and the odd couples, imagining how they met and what will happen to them next. When we had left the hotel, I had felt like we were a married couple on our honeymoon. The two couples at the centre of the mix-up and the twins cannot be identified following a court order. I picked up the Sunday paper that weekend and saw a double-page spread full of interviews with the childless couples who had written to the woman in desperation. I mean when you think about it, we really are like this old married couple. Divorce is a label that married couples hope will never be applied to them. Synonyms husband and wife, twosome 3informal An indefinite small number. he hoped she'd be better in a couple of days as pronoun we got some eggs—would you like a couple? as determiner just a couple more questions clean the stains with a couple squirts of dishwashing liquid Example sentencesExamples My guard had been increased and it was a small army of a couple of dozen soldiers who rattled around with me. That question has a couple of answers, starting with the fact that they do go bankrupt a lot. You might be a little late to the debate, John, but you seem to have put your finger on a couple of the important bits. He said he even gave the police a hair sample a couple of days ago when they came in there. Jim gave his regulator a couple of squirts on the purge button to reassure himself that his air was turned on. And I'd just like to ask a couple of questions about education level. So Jesse and I just went into the kitchen to get a couple of chicken sandwiches. The cylinder timing was on but a bit slow on a couple of the stops, but it was still on and working. I've had two full games for the reserves and a couple of bits here and there. At least enough to stop them from running around like a couple of headless chickens. It's an upright stick with a couple of bits of wood fixed to the top to make a cross. A couple of rusty old bits of farm machinery lay slowly dissolving beneath the sky. Then he stopped by the livestock dealer to buy a couple of chickens and a goose. I'm back in for two days to finish off a couple of bits for the last project I was working on. So set the scene for me a little bit - a couple of grown men climbing around trees in the campus. There are a couple of bits of the evidence that show they prepared them all in advance. Locate the marking tool on the door or jamb, and strike it sharply with a hammer a couple times. But you seem to have asked the question a couple of times, and I am a bit puzzled by that. Boil the liquid for a couple of minutes and then reduce to a simmer. I asked all these questions a couple of years ago, not believing in it at all. Synonyms a few, two or three, a small number of verbˈkəpəlˈkəpəl 1often be coupled to/withwith object Combine. a sense of hope is coupled with a palpable sense of loss Example sentencesExamples This utilitarian approach to law is coupled with a general lack of enforcement in the traditional system. The arrival of autumn this year is coupled with the festival and tourist season and tourists have something to look forward to. This time, though, it was coupled with incompetence. The soaring burglary rate is coupled with a drug abuse epidemic that adds more violence to even the simplest of burglaries or muggings. It was coupled with a request for $70 million to study and develop new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time it would take to test them. Hard-nosed deals are coupled with extraordinarily good staff relationships. The frequent power cuts have also compounded the problems for them and when it is coupled with the steep hike in prices, people feel that they have been caught between devil and deep sea. My prodigious (if I may humbly say so myself) drinking is coupled with insatiable eating. The roots of jazz date back to around the 1890s when a blend of African music from the slaves on the plantations was coupled with European-American musical traditions. This is due to the reason that the speed of the river is not very encouraging and when it is coupled with this phenomena, then it may lead to worse condition. That measure is coupled with a decision to exclude the banks' cash holdings for reserve requirement purposes. But my current retreat is different because it is coupled with the denial of one of my favourite habits. It is true that among our nation's founders, a firm belief in the marketplace was coupled with a belief in Providence. In both cases, an intellectual commitment to liberty is coupled with quite extraordinary intolerance in practice. Military power is not a panacea unless it is coupled with the soft skills of nation-building and, yes, global social work. My call for compulsory voting is coupled with a call for proportional representation. They work in fixed teams, where know-how is coupled with team work to provide the best possible service. But when consumer uncertainty is coupled with doubts about corporate profitability there is precious little consolation. If this fact is coupled with the so called honour code of no ‘grassing’ on anyone, it becomes a problem. So, ultramodern technology is coupled with older modes of understanding. Synonyms combine, integrate, mix, incorporate, accompany, link, team, associate, connect, ally 1.1 Connect (a railroad vehicle or a piece of equipment) to another. a cable is coupled up to one of the wheels Example sentencesExamples The dual mode engine was backed onto our train, coupling up with the frontmost of the three coaches. And true, Budd was late delivering the cars, but the whole train was coupled up and ready for service that August. You can drive around in the cab and when eventually you find a trailer section you can couple up - you're then in charge of a full 18 wheel articulated rig - complete with airbrakes and airhorn! That said, it's a very good engine, which is coupled to a sublime gearbox. Larger terminals had their own steam plants to heat the trains prior to the locomotive coupling on. You simply unhook, turn the truck around and couple up again. With her right of way clear, No. 823 reversed through the loop and then forward down the freight road to couple up to the errant coach. This done, the brand-new C&O dynamometer car was coupled on, and the tests began in May 1929. When two cars are coupled together there is a two or three scale foot gap between the diaphragms. The faster journeys would be achieved by cutting the number of times that trains have to be coupled and decoupled, a job that can take precious minutes. The best case for 12-inch speakers, with their drivers nearly touching, can provide coupling up to about 550 Hz. Synonyms harness, hitch, hitch up, tether, fasten, attach, join, join up, team 1.2 Connect (two electrical components) using electromagnetic induction, electrostatic charge, or an optical link. resistors are used to couple the oscillators Example sentencesExamples As a result, the boosting node and the source voltage can be prevented from being coupled by the transistor. These components are coupled into single mode optical fibers and detected by photodiodes. The buffer circuit further includes a write logic circuit that is coupled between the first buffer and the second buffer. Both metal shells are secured and electrically coupled to an electrically conductive end cap. The marker also has a transponder that is coupled to the tuned circuit. The passive antenna elements are coupled to selectable impedance components. At least two of the first plurality of circuit boards may be coupled to independently distribute power to each of the plurality of switch circuit boards. Synonyms connect, attach, join, fasten, fix, link, secure, tie, bind, strap, rope, tether, truss, lash, hitch, yoke, chain 1.3couple upno object Join to form a pair. Example sentencesExamples Why is everyone coupling up and heading off to get naked? The ones who were single are all coupled up now and talking marriage, and the ones who were coupled up are married now and talking kids. There were only like, seven people there, and they were all coupled up except me. I've been asking my friends and colleagues if they know the word - because there must be a word - to describe someone who simply does not make it a priority to couple up with other people. Aimed at singletons and those who are happily coupled up but want to meet new people, the night is a cross between speed-dating and a book club, aimed at those in their 20s to 40s. Seeing all the happy people coupled up and ready to make it official only reminded her of her own situation. I was crying every day, I was calling in sick to work and I couldn't face meeting up with my friends who were all blissfully coupled up. Honestly, I figured that meant coupling up, but wasn't sure. The handsome teacher gets everyone coupled up, asks you to keep your upper bodies stiff and your hips loose, and puts on the first track. So much is changing right now with Uni ending, my need to get a job, everyone leaving, everyone getting coupled up, I don't know how I'm going to manage. After getting dumped by her golf-pro boyfriend, she couples up with a nicer example of one of the enemy, a landscape architect. People in an approximation of street dress (in other words, us) meet on the run and couple up for fleeting moments. If he has friends that are coupled up, become couple friends - you and one of the ladies might really hit it off. Sure, I like having some of my set activities, but I also like to mix things up at times, and I have lots of friends that I see regularly, even the ones that are coupled up. Its quartet of characters couple up on the Fourth of July, hoping for fireworks. A lot of the students there were coupled up and dancing close together, staring into each other's eyes or kissing. If we're going to be a couple up at camp then we should at least get to know each other a bit better. And eventually, they - surprise surprise - couple up, thus fulfilling the primary buddy-movie necessity, that at least one buddy is visibly heterosexual. 2no object Mate or have sexual intercourse. Example sentencesExamples When a courted female permits mating, the pair remain coupled, end to end, for many hours, even a day. Then, when they coupled, he felt his very bones melting within his body. In the city of a million hovels, a million lovers coupled to the signs of the seasons. Synonyms mate, breed Origin Middle English: from Old French cople (noun), copler (verb), from Latin copula (noun), copulare (verb), from co- ‘together’ + apere ‘fasten’. Compare with copula and copulate.
随便看	bunking off bunkmate bunkmates bunko bunkoes bunk off bunk off bunks bunkum bunk-up bunned bunnies bunny bunny boiler bunny chow bunny ears bunny girl bunny-hop bunny hop bunny hug bunny hugger bunny (rabbit) bunny rabbit bunny rug bunny slope