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Couple vs Item - What's the difference?

couple | item | Synonyms |

Item is a synonym of couple.



In informal terms the difference between couple and item

is that couple is a small number of while item is two people who are having a relationship with each other.

In obsolete terms the difference between couple and item

is that couple is that which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler while item is a hint; an innuendo.

As a determiner couple

is a small number of.

As a verb couple

is to join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).

couple

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship.
  • * 1729 , (Jonathan Swift), (A Modest Proposal)
    • I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders;
  • Two of the same kind connected or considered together.
  • * 1839 , (Charles Dickens), (Nicholas Nickleby)
  • (label) A small number.
  • * 1839 , (Charles Dickens), (Nicholas Nickleby)
    • A couple of billiard balls, all mud and dirt, two battered hats, a champagne bottle
  • * 1891 , (Arthur Conan Doyle), (The Adventure of the Red-Headed League)
    • ‘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.’
  • * 1902 , , Across Coveted Lands :
    • When we got on board again after a couple of hours on shore
  • * , chapter=1
    • , title= 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.}}
  • *{{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)
    • It is in some sort with friends as it is with dogs in couples ; they should be of the same size and humour.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • 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, handful

    Derived terms

    * bridal couple * coupla * couplezilla * couple-close * galvanic couple * voltaic couple

    Determiner

    (head)
  • (informal) A small number of.

    • Verb

    (coupl)
  • To join (two things) together, or (one thing) to (another).
    • Now the conductor will couple the train cars.
    I've coupled our system to theirs.
  • (dated) To join in wedlock; to marry.
  • * (rfdate),
    • A parson who couples all our beggars.
  • To join in sexual intercourse; to copulate.
  • * 1987 Alan Norman Bold & Robert Giddings, Who was really who in fiction, Longman
    • On their wedding night they coupled nine times.
  • * 2001 John Fisher & Geoff Garvey, The rough guide to Crete, p405
    • 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 * uncouple

    item

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A distinct physical object.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author= Nick Miroff
    • , volume=189, issue=7, page=32, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Mexico gets a taste for eating insects […] , passage=The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters […]. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna.}}
  • A line of text having a legal or other meaning; a separate particular in an account.
  • (label) A question on a test, which may include its answers.
  • A matter for discussion in an agenda.
  • (label) Two people who are having a relationship with each other.
  • * 2010 , (Justin Bieber) featuring (Ludacris), ''
    • Are we an item ? Girl, quit playin' / "We're just friends," what are you sayin'?
  • A short article in a newspaper.
  • (label) A hint; an innuendo.
  • * (Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)
    • A secret item was given to some of the bishops to absent themselves.

    Synonyms

    * (object) article, object, thing * (line of text having a legal or semantic meaning) * (matter for discussion) subject, topic * (two people who are having a relationship with each other) couple * (psychometrics) test/assessment question

    Derived terms

    * subitem * itemize * polarity item * negative polarity item * positive polarity item

    Anagrams

    * emit, mite, time ----