coucheet, coucheet (kosha)

[F. couchée, prop. fem. of couché, pp. of coucher, lie down: see Two Chevrons couch1, v.] Bedtime; hence, a reception of visitors about bedtime: opposed to levee. Couched. The duke's levées and couchées were so crowded that the antechambers were full. Bp. Burnet, Hist. Own Times, an. 1684. None of her sylvan subjects made their court; Levées and couchées pa 'd without resort. Dryden, Hind and Panther, 1. 576. Baby Charles and Steenie, you will remain till our cou chee . Scott , Fortunes of Nigel, xxxiii. coucher1 (kou'cher), n. [ couche our (def. 1), cochoure , appar. for * couchoure (def. 2).] 11. A couch-maker or -coverer. Car pen tours, cotelers, couche ours fyn. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1597. IMG:content-1420.png:[blocks in formation] 2. A long seat, commonly upholstered, having an arm at one end, and often a back, upon which one can rest at full length; a lounge. There they drank in cups of emerald, there at tables of ebony lay, Rolling on their purple couches in their tender effeminacy. Tennyson, Boadicea. 3. Any place for retirement and repose, as the lair of a wild beast, etc. The beasts that ronne astraye, seketh their accustomed couches. Bp. Bale , Pref. to Leland's Journey, sig. D, 2. Beast and bird, They to their gra y couch , these to their nests, Were slunk. Milton , P. L., iv. 601. His [the otter's] couch , which is generally a hole communicating with the river. Encyc . Brit ., XII. 396. 4. The frame on which barley is spread to be malted.-5. A layer, coating, or stratum. Specifically-(a) In malting, a heap of steeped barley spread out on a floor to allow germination to take place, and so convert the grain into malt. (b) In painting and gilding, a ground or preliminary coat of color, varnish, or size, covering the canvas, wall, leather, wood, or other surface to be painted or gilded. (c) In the industrial arts, a bed or layer of any material, as one thickne of leather where several thickne es are superimposed, as in bookbinding and the like. couch2 (kouch), n. [Short for couch - gra , q. v.] Couch-gra . 8. To lower (a spear) to a horizontal position; couch2 (kouch), v. t. [ IMG:content-1421.png:[blocks in formation] He mayketh me to swell, both flesh and veyne, And kepith me low lyke a cochoure . Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 217. 31. A setter dog. E. Phillips, 1706.-4. In pa per - making, one who couches the sheets of pulp, or transfers them from the apron to the felt. Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 225.-5. One who couches cataracts.