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Cough vs Couch - What's the difference?

cough | couch |

As verbs the difference between cough and couch

is that cough is to push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy explosion while couch is to lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).

As nouns the difference between cough and couch

is that cough is a sudden, usually noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, often involuntary while couch is an item of furniture for the comfortable seating of more than one person.

cough

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy explosion.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the cough'ing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about ' cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • * , title=(Jeeves in the Offing)
  • , section=chapter XI , passage=I drew a deep breath, and a moment later wished I hadn't, because I drew it while drinking the remains of my gin and tonic. “Does Kipper know of this?“ I said, when I had finished coughing .}}
  • To make a noise like a cough.
  • Derived terms

    * cougher * cough up

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden, usually noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, often involuntary.
  • Behind me, I heard a distinct, dry cough .
  • A condition that causes one to cough; a tendency to cough.
  • Sorry, I can't come to work today – I've got a nasty cough .
  • He was – cough – indisposed.

    Hyponyms

    * barking cough * churchyard cough * congested cough * dry cough * hacking cough * loose cough * non-productive cough * productive cough * smoker's cough * wet cough

    Derived terms

    * cough mixture * cough syrup * whooping cough

    couch

    English

    (wikipedia couch)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from the verb .

    Noun

    (es)
  • An item of furniture for the comfortable seating of more than one person.
  • Bed, resting-place.
  • * (seeCites)
  • * Shakespeare
  • Gentle sleep why liest thou with the vile / In loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch ?
  • * Bryant
  • Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch / About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=1 citation , passage=The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […]  The bed was the most extravagant piece.  Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar.}}
  • A mass of steeped barley spread upon a floor to germinate, in malting; or the floor occupied by the barley.
  • (art, painting and gilding)  A preliminary layer, as of colour or size.
  • Synonyms
    * (item of furniture) davenport, divan, settee, sofa
    Derived terms
    * couch doctor * couch surfing * uncouched * fly couch
    Descendants
    * German: (l)
    See also
    * armchair * love seat * chesterfield

    Verb

    (es)
  • To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare)
  • Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand.
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare)
  • If I court moe women, you'll couch with moe men.
  • * {{quote-video
  • , year = 1994 , title = (Reality Bites) , people = (Winona Ryder) , role = Lelaina Pierce , passage = All you do around here, Troy, is eat and couch and fondle the remote control. }}
  • To lie down for concealment; to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly.
  • * (rfdate) Shakespeare
  • We'll couch in the castle ditch, till we see the light of our fairies.
  • * (rfdate) I. Taylor
  • the half-hidden, hallf-revealed wonders, that yet couch beneath the words of the Scripture
  • To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch.
  • * (rfdate) (Spenser)
  • an aged squire that seemed to couch under his shield three-square
  • To lay something upon a bed or other resting place.
  • * (rfdate) (Shakespeare)
  • Where unbruised youth, with unstuffed brain, / Does couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.
  • To arrange or dispose as if in a bed.
  • * (rfdate) T. Burnet
  • The waters couch themselves as may be to the centre of this globe, in a spherical convexity.
  • To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.
  • * (rfdate) (Francis Bacon)
  • It is at this day in use at Gaza, to couch potsherds, or vessels of earth, in their walls.
  • (paper-making) To transfer (e.g. sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying.
  • (medicine) To treat by pushing down or displacing the opaque lens with a needle.
  • to couch a cataract
  • To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • He stooped his head, and couched his spear , / And spurred his steed to full career.
    Synonyms
    * : lie down, recline

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) couchier

    Verb

    (es)
  • To phrase in a particular style, to use specific wording for.
  • He couched it as a request, but it was an order.
  • * (rfdate) (Blackwood Magazine)
  • I had received a letter from Flora couched in rather cool terms.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=June 26 , author=Genevieve Koski , title=Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=More significantly, rigid deference to Bieber’s still-young core fan base keeps things resolutely PG, with any acknowledgement of sex either couched in vague “touch your body” workarounds or downgraded to desirous hand-holding and eye-gazing.}}
  • (archaic) To conceal; to hide
  • * 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems , Dialogue 2:
  • You have overlooked a fallacy couched in the experiment of the stick.
    Synonyms
    * (phrase in a particular style) explain, express, phrase, term, word

    Etymology 3

    From quitch, from (etyl) cwice, from (etyl) kweke.

    Noun

    (-)
  • couch grass, a species of persistent grass, Elymus repens , usually considered a weed.
  • Synonyms
    * (Elymus repens) twitch, , quackgrass, scutch grass, witchgrass
    See also
    * (Elymus repens)