ALL meanings of couple
cou·ple
C c - quantifier couple 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. 3
- quantifier couple Couple is also a determiner in spoken American English, and before 'more' and 'less'. 3
- quantifier couple Couple is also a pronoun. 3
- countable noun couple A couple is two people who are married, living together, or having a sexual relationship. 3
- countable noun couple A couple is two people that you see together on a particular occasion or that have some association. 3
- verb couple 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. 3
- verb couple If one piece of equipment is coupled to another, it is joined to it so that the two pieces of equipment work together. 3
- noun couple two people who regularly associate with each other or live together 3
- noun couple two people considered as a pair, for or as if for dancing, games, etc 3
- noun couple a pair of collars joined by a leash, used to attach hounds to one another 3
- noun couple two hounds joined in this way 3
- noun couple the unit of reckoning for hounds in a pack 3
- noun couple a pair of equal and opposite parallel forces that have a tendency to produce rotation with a torque or turning moment equal to the product of either force and the perpendicular distance between them 3
- noun couple two dissimilar metals, alloys, or semiconductors in electrical contact, across which a voltage develops 3
- noun couple two dissimilar metals or alloys in electrical contact that when immersed in an electrolyte act as the electrodes of an electrolytic cell 3
- noun couple a connector or link between two members, such as a tie connecting a pair of rafters in a roof 3
- pronoun couple two; a pair 3
- verb couple to connect (two things) together or to connect (one thing) to (another) 3
- verb couple to do (two things) simultaneously or alternately 3
- verb couple to form or be formed into a pair or pairs 3
- verb couple to associate, put, or connect together 3
- verb couple to link (two circuits) by electromagnetic induction 3
- verb couple to have sexual intercourse 3
- verb couple to join or be joined in marriage; marry 3
- verb couple to attach (two hounds to each other) 3
- noun couple anything joining two things together; bond; link 3
- noun couple two things or persons of the same sort that are somehow associated 3
- noun couple two people, esp. a man and woman, who are engaged, married, or joined as partners, as in a dance or game 3
- noun couple an indefinite small number; a few [a couple of ideas] 3
- noun couple two dissimilar metals or alloys placed in electrical contact with each other to create a galvanic or thermoelectric current; voltaic couple 3
- noun couple two equal forces producing rotation by moving in parallel but opposite directions 3
- verb transitive couple to join together by fastening or by association; link; connect 3
- verb transitive couple to join in marriage 3
- verb transitive couple to join (two or more circuits) by a common magnetic or electric field or by direct connection 3
- intransitive verb couple to come together; unite 3
- intransitive verb couple to unite in sexual intercourse; copulate 3
- noun couple A couple consists of two parallel forces acting at different points on a body, often making it rotate. 3
- noun couple two, pair 1
- noun couple two of sth 1
- noun couple pair of lovers 1
- noun couple two people 1
- noun couple two or three 1
- transitive verb couple train carriages: link 1
- noun couple The phrase a couple of, meaning “a small number of; a few; several,” has been in standard use for centuries, especially with measurements of time and distance and in referring to amounts of money: They walked a couple of miles in silence. Repairs will probably cost a couple of hundred dollars. The phrase is used in all but the most formal speech and writing. The shortened phrase a couple, without of (The gas station is a couple miles from here), is an Americanism of recent development that occurs chiefly in informal speech or representations of speech, especially when followed by number terms (as a couple dozen eggs) or units of measurement (as a couple years ago; a couple gallons of gas). This use of couple (as an adjective or modifier) is still disliked by many. Without a following noun, a couple is even more informal: Jack shouldn't drive. It's clear he's had a couple. (Here the noun drinks is omitted.) In referring to two people, couple, like many collective nouns, may take either a singular or a plural verb. Most commonly, it is construed as a plural: The couple were traveling to Texas. See also collective noun. 1
- abbreviation COUPLE Combine. 1
- noun couple two of the same sort considered together; pair. 1
- noun couple two persons considered as joined together, as a married or engaged pair, lovers, or dance partners: They make a handsome couple. 1
- noun couple any two persons considered together. 1
- noun couple Mechanics. a pair of equal, parallel forces acting in opposite directions and tending to produce rotation. 1
- noun couple Also called couple-close. Carpentry. a pair of rafters connected by a tie beam or collar beam. 1