couple

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Usage notes 1.3.2 Synonyms 1.3.3 Derived terms 1.3.4 Translations 1.4 Verb 1.4.1 Derived terms 1.4.2 Translations 2 French 2.1 Pronunciation 2.2 Etymology 2.3 Noun 2.3.1 Related terms 2.4 Anagrams

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Old French cople, from Latin copula

[edit] Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
•  Audio (UK)^{help, file}

  Rhymes: -ʌpəl

[edit] Noun

couple (plural couples)

1. Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.

   Joe and Amy make a nice couple.

2. Two of the same kind connected or considered together (see Usage notes).

   They look like a couple of idiots!

3. (US, informal, proscribed) A small number of. See usage notes.

   Let me have a couple of slices of pepperoni.

4. One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
5. (physics) Two forces that are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction (and acting along parallel lines), thus creating the turning effect of a torque or moment.

[edit] Usage notes

• In U.K. usage, couple is followed by of when used to mean "two", as in "a couple of people". In US usage, of is often omitted, as in "I went there a couple times".
• In the U.S., "a couple of things" or people may be used to mean two of them, but it is also often used to mean any small number.

  The farm is a couple of miles off the main highway [=a few miles away].

• In the U.K., "a couple of" almost always means just two

  We’re going out to a restaurant with a couple of friends [=two friends].

  Wait a couple of minutes [=two minutes or more].

[edit] Synonyms

• (two partners):
• (two things of the same kind): brace, pair
• (a small number of): few, handful

[edit] Derived terms

• coupla
• couple-close
• galvanic couple
• voltaic couple

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to couple (third-person singular simple present couples, present participle coupling, simple past and past participle coupled)

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

   Now the conductor will couple the train cars.

   I've coupled our system to theirs.

[edit] Derived terms

• coupled
• decouple, decoupled

[edit] Translations

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[edit] French

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /kupl/, SAMPA: /kupl/
•  Audio (France)^{help, file}

[edit] Etymology

[edit] Noun

couple m. and f. (plural couples)

1. (m.) Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.

   Jean et Amélie forment un joli couple. - Jean and Amélie make a cute couple.

2. (physics, m.)A force couple; a pure moment.
3. (mathematics, m.) An ordered pair.
4. (animal husbandry, f.) An accessory used to tightly attach two animals next to each other by the neck.
5. (regional, f.) A pair of something.
6. (Canadian, f.) A few, a couple of something.
   • 1999, Chrystine Brouillet, Les Fiancées de l'Enfer, ISBN 2-89021-363-3, page 200:

     "Je veux une pause pour une couple de jour." — I need a pause for a couple days.

[edit] Related terms

• couplage
• coupler

[edit] Anagrams

• Alphagram: celopu
• copule