couple

Less common meanings

6. 6
   pair of thingsnouncountable

   Two items of the same kind that are connected or considered together.

   A couple of oxen were yoked together to haul the timber.

   The hunter kept a couple of hounds that always worked as a pair.

   Similarpair, brace

   Note

   The root sense came from Latin cōpula through Old French into Middle English. English also kept the Latin form as copula, its learned doublet. What matters here is a pair that belongs together, like Dickens's couple of tables, one laid for supper. Roger L'Estrange in 1692 wants friends matched like dogs in couples, alike in size and humor. Unlike the loose "a few" sense, this one means two. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • English couple derives through Middle English and Old French from Latin cōpula. en.wiktionary.org
   • English copula is a direct Latin borrowing and a doublet of couple. en.wiktionary.org
   • Dickens describes two tables, one bearing preparations for supper, in Nicholas Nickleby; this is narration. gutenberg.org
   • The cited L'Estrange work was published in 1692. en.wikisource.org
   • L'Estrange compares friends to coupled dogs and recommends matching their size and temperament. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   verbdatedtransitive

   To join two people in wedlock; to marry.

   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

   1801, Jonathan Swift, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift

   Similarmarry, wed, unite

   Note

   Dated now, and usually said of the person who performs the ceremony rather than the pair being wed. Jonathan Swift writes of a parson "who couples all our beggars". In ordinary use marry and wed have taken over. Today the verb sounds deliberately old-fashioned, so it suits historical fiction better than a wedding announcement. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Jonathan Swift writes of a parson "who couples all our beggars", meaning that he performs their marriages. en.wikisource.org
8. 8
   join sexuallyverbintransitive

   Of people or animals, to have sexual intercourse or mate, or to bring animals together to mate.

   Frogs couple in the shallow water each spring.

   The pair coupled and then went their separate ways.

   UsageThe partner follows with: couple with a mate.

   Similarmate, copulate, breed

9. 9
   turning forcenouncountable

   A pair of equal and opposite forces acting along parallel but separate lines, which tend to turn a body without moving it as a whole.

   The applied couple rotates the shaft without producing any net sideways force.

   Engineers calculated the couple needed to turn the heavy valve.

   Note

   In mechanics the word keeps its old meaning of a pair. The pair is two equal, parallel forces acting in opposite directions along different lines. Their pushes cancel, so the body is not shoved in any direction. Together they turn it, and the turning effect is the same whichever point it is measured from. That independence from the reference point is what sets a couple apart. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The meaning involving a pair preserves an older meaning of the word. en.wiktionary.org
   • A couple consists of two equal, parallel forces acting oppositely along separate lines. engineeringstatics.org
   • The forces cancel in translation while producing a turning effect. en.wikipedia.org
   • A couple's moment is independent of the reference point, distinguishing it from the moment of a single force. web.mae.ufl.edu
10. 10
    nounarchaic

    Something that joins or links two things together, such as a bond, tie, or coupler.

    I’ll keep my stables where / I lodge my wife; I’ll go in couples with her;

    c. 1610, William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”
11. 11
    noun

    A pair of plates of two different metals forming one unit of a voltaic battery, also called a voltaic or galvanic couple.
12. 12
    noun

    A pair of rafters joined at the apex and tied at the feet to form a simple roof truss; a couple-close.
13. 13
    verb

    In horse racing, to group several horses from one owner as a single entry, so that one bet covers a win by any of them.