Definition of "couple"

'Tis in some sort with Friends (Pardon the Coarseness of the illustration) as it is with Dogs in Couples. They should be of the same Size; and Humour; and That which Pleases the One should Please the Other

1692, Roger L'Estrange, Fables, of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists: with Morals and Reflexions‎, page 64

[…] couple of tables; one of which bore some preparations for supper; while, on the other […]

1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

THE Number of Souls in the Kingdom being uſually reckon'd One million and a half; of theſe I calculate there may be about Two hundred Thouſand Couple, whoſe Wives are Breeders, from which Number I ſubſtract Thirty thouſand Couples, who are able to maintain their own Children; […]

1729, [Jonathan Swift], A Modest Proposal […], third edition, Dublin: Weaver Bickerton, published 1730, page 8

A couple of billiard balls, all mud and dirt, two battered hats, a champagne bottle […]

1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839

‘Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and it need not interfere very much with one’s other occupations.’

1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League

When we got on board again after a couple of hours on shore […]

1902, A. Henry Savage Landor, Across Coveted Lands‎

Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ […].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it.

1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients

And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.

1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

I’ll keep my stables where / I lodge my wife; I’ll go in couples with her;

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]

As we passed the deserted mountain-dairy, we must have crossed the fresh track of a hare, because the hounds became rather uneasy in the couples.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 27

Put any couple guys in a tricked out car and a couple of bandannas […] " He trailed off.

2005, Deirdre Savoy, Body of Truth, page 179

Since we were now living so close, at least those couple hours of talking together helped boost our spirits.

2005, Elaine Bonzelaar, Those First Two Years, page 47

Apparently, Ann in particular liked these couple pages of the character thing.

2006, Eric Nolen-Weathington, George A. Khoury, Arthur Adams, Modern Masters: Arthur Adams, volume six, page 22

Q. (Mr. Feldman, atty) You say you lived upstairs? A. (Emma Moore) I lived upstairs. Q. Until when? A. About couple months we lived upstairs. Q. Up until couple months ago? A. No, couple months after we moved in there because the down stairs was not finished.

1922, “Lewis J. Bennett et al vs. Sebastien L. Petrino”, in State of New York Supreme Court Appellate Division - Fourth Department

Couple boys from way downcountry come for a summer in the woods. Isaac Cole talked to em.

2007, Jeffrey Lent, Lost Nation‎, page 182

[At a pizza parlor] "Couple slices would be great. […]

2011, Elizabeth Eulberg, Prom and Prejudice‎

Some gritty defence at the death, coupled with some key big moments from individual players at critical times helped secure the win as the All Blacks fought with 14 men for a big chunk of the final after a red card to captain Sam Cane.

2023 October 28, Leighton Koopman, “YES!!! The Springboks beat the All Blacks to win another Rugby World Cup title”, in Independent Online‎

I am just going to perform a very good office, it is to assist with the archbishop, in degrading a parson who couples all our beggars

1801, Jonathan Swift, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 14‎, page 59

On their wedding night they coupled nine times.

1987, Alan Norman Bold, Robert Giddings, Who was really who in fiction, Longman

She had the brilliant inventor and craftsman Daedalus construct her an artificial cow, in which she hid and induced the bull to couple with her [...]

2001, John Fisher, Geoff Garvey, The rough guide to Crete,, page 405

The Parilia was generally considered to be the best time for coupling the rams and the ewes .

1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 328