| 单词 | couple |
| 释义 | couple —coupleable, adj. /kup"euhl/, n. , v. , coupled, coupling. n. 1. two of the same sort considered together; pair. 2. two persons considered as joined together, as a married or engaged pair, lovers, or dance partners: They make a handsome couple. 3. any two persons considered together. 4. Mech. a pair of equal, parallel forces acting in opposite directions and tending to produce rotation. 5. Also called couple-close. Carpentry. a pair of rafters connected by a tie beam or collar beam. 6. a leash for holding two hounds together. 7. Fox Hunting. two hounds: 25 hounds or 121/2 couple. 8. a couple of, more than two, but not many, of; a small number of; a few: It will take a couple of days for the package to get there. Also, a couple. v.t. 9. to fasten, link, or associate together in a pair or pairs. 10. to join; connect. 11. to unite in marriage or in sexual union. 12. Elect. a. to join or associate by means of a coupler. b. to bring (two electric circuits or circuit components) close enough to permit an exchange of electromagnetic energy. v.i. 13. to join in a pair; unite. 14. to copulate. [1175-1225; (n.) ME < AF c(o)uple, OF cople, cuple < L copula a tie, bond (see COPULA); (v.) ME couplen < AF co(u)pler, OF copler, cupler < L copulare (see COPULATE)] Usage. The phrase A COUPLE OF has been in standard use for centuries, especially with measurements of time and distance and in referring to amounts of money: They walked a couple of miles in silence. Repairs will probably cost a couple of hundred dollars. The phrase is used in all but the most formal speech and writing. The shortened phrase A COUPLE, without OF (The gas station is a couple miles from here), is an Americanism of recent development that occurs chiefly in informal speech or representations of speech. Without a following noun, the phrase is highly informal: Jack shouldn't drive. I think he's had a couple. (Here the noun drinks is omitted.) In referring to two people, COUPLE, like many collective nouns, may take either a singular or a plural verb. Most commonly, it is construed as a plural: The couple were traveling to Texas. See also collective noun. |
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