What is the difference between couple and both?
couple | both |
Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
* 1729 , (Jonathan Swift), (A Modest Proposal)
Two of the same kind connected or considered together.
* 1839 , (Charles Dickens), (Nicholas Nickleby)
(label) A small number.
* 1839 , (Charles Dickens), (Nicholas Nickleby)
* 1891 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), (The Adventure of the Red-Headed League)
* 1902 , ,
* , chapter=1
, title= *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=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.}}
One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
(label) Two forces that are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction (and acting along parallel lines), thus creating the turning effect of a torque or moment.
(label) A couple-close.
(label) That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.
* (w, Roger L'Estrange) (1616-1704)
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
(informal) A small number of.
To join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).
(dated) To join in wedlock; to marry.
* (rfdate),
To join in sexual intercourse; to copulate.
* 1987 Alan Norman Bold & Robert Giddings, Who was really who in fiction, Longman
* 2001 John Fisher & Geoff Garvey, The rough guide to Crete, p405
Each of the two; one and the other.
* (Bible), (w) xxi. 27
* (1678-1751)
*
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=
, volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (obsolete) Each of more than two.
* (Oliver Goldsmith) (1730-1774)
* (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
In obsolete terms the difference between couple and both
is that couple is that which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler while both is each of more than two.As determiners the difference between couple and both
is that couple is a small number of while both is each of the two; one and the other.As a noun couple
is two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.As a verb couple
is to join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).As a conjunction both is
including both (used with and.couple
English
Noun
(en noun)- I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders;
- A couple of billiard balls, all mud and dirt, two battered hats, a champagne bottle
- ‘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.’
Across Coveted Lands:
- When we got on board again after a couple of hours on shore
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=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.}}
- It is in some sort with friends as it is with dogs in couples ; they should be of the same size and humour.
- I'll go in couples with her.
Usage notes
* The traditional and still most broadly accepted usage of be used only as a noun and not as a determiner in formal writing. * "A couple of things" or people may be used to mean two of them, but it is also often used to mean any small number. *: The farm is a couple of miles off the main highway [=a few miles away]. *: We’re going out to a restaurant with a couple of friends [=two friends]. *: Wait a couple of minutes [=two minutes or more].Synonyms
* (two partners) * (two things of the same kind) brace, pair * (a small number of) few, handfulDerived terms
* bridal couple * coupla * couplezilla * couple-close * galvanic couple * voltaic coupleDeterminer
(head)Verb
(coupl)- Now the conductor will couple the train cars.
- I've coupled our system to theirs.
- A parson who couples all our beggars.
- On their wedding night they coupled nine times.
- 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 [...]
Derived terms
* coupling (noun) * decouple, decoupled * uncoupleboth
English
Alternative forms
* bothe (archaic)Determiner
(en determiner)- Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
- He will not bear the loss of his rank, because he can bear the loss of his estate; but he will bear both , because he is prepared for both.
- Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.
Ian Sample
Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains, passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
- Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound.
- He prayeth well who loveth well both man and bird and beast.