Couple | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Coup'le, n.

noun

(kŭp'l), n. [Fr. couple, It. coppia, from Lat. copula. See COPULA.]

Sense 1. That which links or connects two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler. [Obs.]

It is of some sort with friends as it is with dogs in couples: they should be of the same size and humor. L'Estrange.

Sense 2. Two things of the same kind connected together or taken together; a pair; a brace.

By adding one to one we have the complex idea of a couple. Locke.

A garden he had a couple of miles or so out of town. Dickens.

Sense 3. A male and female connected by betrothal or marriage; a betrothed or married pair. “Such were our couple, man and wife.” Lloyd.

As beseems Fair couple, linked in happy, nuptial league. Milton.

Sense 4. (pl.) (Arch.) Rafters framed together in pairs, with a tie fixed above their feet. Gwill.

Sense 5. (Galvanism.) One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a battery;—called a galvanic or voltaic couple. Nichol.

Synonyms—Pair; brace.

Coûp'le, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. COUPLED; p. pr. & vb. n. COUPLING.] [Fr. coupler, from Lat. copulare. See COPULATE.] 1. To link or connect together; to tie with one another; to join. Couple coming harms with sorrows past. Sidney. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds, And couple Clowder with the deep-mouthed Brach. Shak. 2. To bring together or unite as male and female; to marry. “A parson who couples all our beggars.” Swift.

Coŭp'le, v. i.

verbintransitive

To come together as male and female; to form a sexual union.