couardt

An obsolete form of coward. coucal (kö'kal), n. [Mentioned prob. for the first time in Le Vaillant's "Oiseaux d'Afrique," beginning about 1796; perhaps native African.] An African or Indian spur-heeled cuckoo: a name first definitely applied by Cuvier in 1817 to the birds of the genus Centropus (Illiger). couch1 (kouch), v. [ lay down or away; put in a resting-place or in a repository of any kind; place; deposit. [Archaic.] Sacrifise solemne, besoght at that tyme,... And the carcas full clanly kowchit on the auter. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 11789. It is at this day in use, in Gaza, to couch potsherds, or ve els of earth, in their walls, to gather the wind from the top, and pa it down in spouts into rooms. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 776. Shirley, The Traitor, i. 2. Can reason couch itself within that frame? The waters couch themselves, as close as may be, to the centre of this globe in a spherical convexity. T. Burnet , Theory of the Earth. Specifically-2. To cause to recline or lie upon a bed or other place of rest; dispose or place upon, or as upon, a couch or bed. Where unbruised youth, with unstuff'd brain, Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign. Shak., R. and J., ii. 3. 3. In brewing, to spread out upon a floor, as steeped barley, in order to promote germination.-4. In paper - making, to take (a sheet of pulp) from the mold or apron on which it has been formed, and place it upon a felt.- 51. Το lay together closely. Worke wel knit and couched togither. Nomenclator (1585). 61. To cause to hide or seek concealment; cause to lie close or crouch. A falcon towering in the skies Coucheth the fowl below with his wings' shade. Shak ., Lucrece, 1. 507. 7. To include in the meaning of a word or statement; expre ; put in words; especially, to imply without distinctly stating; cover or conceal by the manner of stating: often, in the latter sense, with under: as, the compliment was couched in the most fitting terms; a threat was couched under his apparently friendly words. Speech by meeter is a kind of vtterance, more cleanly couched and more delicate to the eare prose Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 5. Ignominious words, though clerkly couch'd . Shak ., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. There is scarcely a garden in China which does not contain some fine moral, couched under the general design. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxx i. To this communication Perth proposed an answer couched in the most servile terms. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. We'll couch i' the castle-ditch, till we see the light of our Shak., M. W. of W., v. 2. fairies. I saw a bright green snake, Green as the herbs in which it couched , Close by the dove's its head it crouched. Fierce tigers couched around. Cole ridge, Christ a bel, ii. The chase neglected, and his hound Couch'd beside him on the ground. Dryden. M. Arnold, Tristram and Iseult. 5. To bend or stoop, as under a burden. An aged Squire That seemed to couch under his shield three-square, As if that age badd him that burden spare. Spenser, F. Q., III. 1. 4. I achar is a strong a couching down between two bur dens. Gen. xlix. 14. couching writers confuse couchant and dormant, and give the term sejant to the beast lying down with head raised; but this is rare. Also harbored and lodged. His crest was covered with a couchant Hownd. Spenser, F. Q., III. ii. 25. Levant and couchant, in law , rising up and lying down: applied to beasts, and indicating that they have been long enough on land not belonging to their owner to lie down and rise up to feed, or for a day and night at least. couché (kö-sha'), a. [F., pp. of coucher , lie down: see couch, v.] in her ., partly lying down; not erect: said of a shield used as an escutcheon, as in a seal or the like, when the shield is generally represented hung up by the sinister corner. couched (koucht), p. a. [Pp. of couch1, v.] 1. In her., lying on its side, as a chevron represented as i uant from either side of the escutcheon.-2. In embroidery. See couching1, 5.