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COUPLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A pair who associate with one another
Example:
an inseparable twosome
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
pair (two people considered as a unit)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
same-sex marriage (two people of the same sex who live together as a family)
Derivation:
couple (form a pair or pairs)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A pair of people who live together
Example:
a married couple from Chicago
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
family; family unit (primary social group; parents and children)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
power couple (a couple both of whom have high-powered careers or are politically influential)
DINK (a couple who both have careers and no children (an acronym for dual income no kids))
Derivation:
couple (engage in sexual intercourse)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(physics) something joined by two equal and opposite forces that act along parallel lines
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
building block; unit (a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else)
Meronyms (parts of "couple"):
moment of a couple (given two equal and opposite forces, the product of the force and the distance between them)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
dipole (a pair of equal and opposite electric charges or magnetic poles separated by a small distance)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Two items of the same kind
Synonyms:
brace; couple; couplet; distich; duad; duet; duo; dyad; pair; span; twain; twosome; yoke
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
2; deuce; II; two (the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number)
Meronyms (parts of "couple"):
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "couple"):
doubleton ((bridge) a pair of playing cards that are the only cards in their suit in the hand dealt to a player)
Derivation:
couple (bring two objects, ideas, or people together)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A small indefinite number
Example:
he's coming for a couple of days
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("couple" is a kind of...):
small indefinite amount; small indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they couple ... he / she / it couples
Past simple: coupled
Past participle: coupled
-ing form: coupling
Sense 1
Meaning:
Bring two objects, ideas, or people together
Example:
The student was paired with a partner for collaboration on the project
Synonyms:
couple; match; mate; pair; twin
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
join (cause to become joined or linked)
Verb group:
match (give or join in marriage)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "couple"):
mismate (provide with an unsuitable mate)
mismatch (match badly; match two objects or people that do not go together)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
couple (two items of the same kind)
coupling (a connection (like a clamp or vise) between two things so they move together)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Link together
Example:
can we couple these proposals?
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
attach (cause to be attached)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Antonym:
uncouple (disconnect or separate)
Derivation:
coupler; coupling (a mechanical device that serves to connect the ends of adjacent objects)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Engage in sexual intercourse
Example:
Birds mate in the Spring
Synonyms:
copulate; couple; mate; pair
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
conjoin; join (make contact or come together)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "couple"):
nick (mate successfully; of livestock)
bang; be intimate; bed; bonk; do it; eff; fuck; get it on; get laid; have a go at it; have intercourse; have it away; have it off; have sex; hump; jazz; know; lie with; love; make love; make out; roll in the hay; screw; sleep together; sleep with (have sexual intercourse with)
tread; serve; service (mate with)
deflower; ruin (deprive of virginity)
breed; cover (copulate with a female, used especially of horses)
bugger; sodomise; sodomize (practice anal sex upon)
sodomise; sodomize (copulate with an animal)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
couple (a pair of people who live together)
coupling (the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Form a pair or pairs
Example:
The two old friends paired off
Synonyms:
couple; pair; pair off; partner off
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "couple" is one way to...):
unify; unite (act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
couple (a pair who associate with one another)
Context examples:
Its data, coupled with images from a camera aboard the orbiter called the Mars Context Imager (MARCI), enabled scientists to detect numerous swelling dust towers.
(Global Storms on Mars Launch Dust Towers Into the Sky, NASA)
While Johansen was summoning the watch below, a couple of sailors, under the captain’s direction, laid the canvas-swathed corpse upon a hatch-cover.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
But the Professor never stopped for a moment; he sawed down a couple of feet along one side of the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
He was a large-muscled, stolid sort of a man, in whom little imagination was coupled with immense initiative, and who possessed, withal, loyalty and affection as sturdy as his own strength.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
When I can run about again as I used to do, Doady, let us go and see those places where we were such a silly couple, shall we?
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
‘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.’
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Only last night we had news that the couple had been hunted down in Liverpool, and they prove to have no connection whatever with the matter in hand.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The findings provide useful information for couples who are planning a pregnancy and who would like to minimize their risk for early pregnancy loss.
(Couples’ pre-pregnancy caffeine consumption linked to miscarriage risk, NIH)
One plasmalogen called PAF acts through a G-protein coupled receptor as a potent platelet activator and clotting agent.
(Plasmalogen Synthesis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
Wnt binds to Frizzled, a G-protein coupled receptor, activating homologs of the Drosophila Disheveled protein.
(Pitx2 Transcription Regulation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
