KJV Dictionary Definition: couch

couch

COUCH, v.i.

1. To lie down, as on a bed or place of repose.

2. To lie down on the knees; to stop and recline on the knees, as a beast.

Fierce tigers couched around.

3. To lie down in secret or in ambush; to lie close and concealed.

The earl of Angus couched in a furrow.

Judah couched as a lion. Genesis 44.

4. To lie; to lie in a bed or stratum.

Blessed of the Lord be his land-for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath. Deuteronomy. 33.

5. To stoop; to bend the body or back; to lower in reverence, or to bend under labor, pain, or a burden.

Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens. Genesis 44.

These couchings, and these lowly courtesies.

COUCH, v.t.

1. To lay down; to repose on a bed or place of rest.

Where unbruised youth, with unstuffed brain, doth couch his limbs.

2. To lay down; to spread on a bed or floor; as, to couch malt.

3. To lay close, or in a stratum.

The waters couch themselves, as close as may be, to the center of the globe.

4. To hide; to lay close, or in another body.

It is in use at this day, to couch vessels in walls, to gather the wind from the top, and pass it down in spouts into rooms.

5. To include secretly; to hide; or to express in obscure terms, that imply what is to be understood; with under.

All this, and more, lies couched under this allegory.

Hence,

6. To involve; to include; to comprise; to comprehend or express.

This great argument for a future state, which St. Paul hath couched int he words read.

7. To lie close.

8. To fix a spear in the rest, in the posture of attack.

They couched their spears.

9. To depress the condensed crystaline humor or film that overspreads the pupil of the eye. To remove a catarct, by entering a needle through the coats of the eye, and pushing the lens to the bottom of the vitreous humor, and then downwards and outwards, so as to leave it in the under and outside of the eye. The true phrase is, to couch a cataract; but we say, to couch they eye, or the patient.

COUCH, n.

1. A bed; a place for rest or sleep.

2. A seat of repose; a place for rest and ease, on which it is common to lie down undressed.

3. A layer of stratum; as a couch of malt.

4. In painting, a lay or impression of color, in oil or water, covering the canvas, wall, or other matter to be painted.

5. Any lay, or impression, used to make a thing firm or consistent, or to screen it from the weather.

6. A covering of gold or silver leaf, laid on any substance to be gilded or silvered.

couched

COUCHED, pp. Laid down; laid on; hid; included or involved; laid close; fixed in the rest, as a spear; depressed or removed, as a cataract.

couching

COUCHING, ppr. Lying down; laying down; lying close; involving; including; expressing; depressing a cataract.

COUCHING, n. The act of stooping or bowing.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
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