Hypertext Webster Gateway: "couching"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Couch \Couch\ (kouch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Couched} (koucht);
p. pr. & vb. n. {Couching}.] [F. coucher to lay down, lie
down, OF. colchier, fr. L. collocare to lay, put, place; col-
+ locare to place, fr. locus place. See {Locus}.]
1. To lay upon a bed or other resting place.

Where unbruised youth, with unstuffed brain, Does
couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.
--Shak.

2. To arrange or dispose as in a bed; -- sometimes followed
by the reflexive pronoun.

The waters couch themselves as may be to the center
of this globe, in a spherical convexity. --T.
Burnet.

3. To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.

It is at this day in use at Gaza, to couch
potsherds, or vessels of earth, in their walls.
--Bacon.

4. (Paper Making) To transfer (as sheets of partly dried
pulp) from the wire cloth mold to a felt blanket, for
further drying.

5. To conceal; to include or involve darkly.

There is all this, and more, that lies naturally
couched under this allegory. --L'Estrange.

6. To arrange; to place; to inlay. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

7. To put into some form of language; to express; to phrase;
-- used with in and under.

A well-couched invective. --Milton.

I had received a letter from Flora couched in rather
cool terms. --Blackw. Mag.

8. (Med.) To treat by pushing down or displacing the opaque
lens with a needle; as, to couch a cataract.

{To couch a} {spear or lance}, to lower to the position of
attack; to place in rest.

He stooped his head, and couched his spear, And
spurred his steed to full career. --Sir W.
Scott.

{To couch malt}, to spread malt on a floor. --Mortimer.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Couching \Couch"ing\, n.
1. (Med.) The operation of putting down or displacing the
opaque lens in cataract.

2. Embroidering by laying the materials upon the surface of
the foundation, instead of drawing them through.


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