couple

1. 1

   Two of the same kind connected or considered together.

   • A couple of police officers appeared at the door.
2. 2

   Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.

   • Having a beloved couple (Jim and Pam, Cory and Topanga) exchange vows was once a foolproof way to juice TV ratings.
3. 3

   A small number.informal

   • A couple of billiard balls, all mud and dirt, two battered hats, a champagne bottle […]
   • ‘Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and it need not interfere very much with one’s other occupations.’
4. 4

   One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.

5. 5

   A turning effect created by forces that produce a non-zero external torque.

6. 6

   A couple-close.

7. 7

   That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.

   • I’ll keep my stables where / I lodge my wife; I’ll go in couples with her;
   • As we passed the deserted mountain-dairy, we must have crossed the fresh track of a hare, because the hounds became rather uneasy in the couples.

syn. pair

1. 1

   Two or (a) small number of.CanadaUSinformal

   • Put any couple guys in a tricked out car and a couple of bandannas […]" He trailed off.
   • Since we were now living so close, at least those couple hours of talking together helped boost our spirits.

1. 1

   Two or a few, a small number of.CanadaUScolloquial

   • A couple fewer people show up every week.
   • I'll be there in a couple minutes.

1. 1

   To join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).transitive

   • Now the conductor will couple the train cars.
   • I've coupled our system to theirs.
2. 2

   To join in wedlock; to marry.datedtransitive

   • I am just going to perform a very good office, it is to assist with the archbishop, in degrading a parson who couples all our beggars
3. 3

   To join in sexual intercourse; to copulate.intransitive

   • On their wedding night they coupled nine times.
   • She had the brilliant inventor and craftsman Daedalus construct her an artificial cow, in which she hid and induced the bull to couple with her […]
4. 4

   To cause (two animals) to copulate, to bring (two animals) together for mating.transitive

   • The Parilia was generally considered to be the best time for coupling the rams and the ewes.
5. 5

   To enter (multiple horses with the same owner) into a race so that a single bet can be placed on any of them winning.transitive

syn. attach · put together · espouse · make love