different between clasp vs couple
clasp
English
Etymology
Noun dated in the 13th century AD and verb dated in the late 14th century AD; from claspe, possible modification of clapse, which is from Old English clyppan (“to grasp”). Related to English enclasp (“embrace, hold tightly in one's arms”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /klæsp/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kl??sp/
- Rhymes: -æsp, -??sp
Noun
clasp (plural clasps)
- A fastener or holder, particularly one that clasps.
- I always have a hard time working the clasp on this necklace!
- (in the singular) An embrace, a grasp, or handshake.
- He took her hand in a firm clasp.
Translations
Verb
clasp (third-person singular simple present clasps, present participle clasping, simple past and past participle clasped)
- (transitive) To take hold of; to grasp; to grab tightly.
- They clasped hands and parted as friends.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21:
- The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and lower still on his breast.
- To shut or fasten together with, or as if with, a clasp.
Synonyms
- beclasp (dated)
- (grasp tightly): begrip, grasp, grip; See also Thesaurus:grasp
- (shut with a clasp):
- (shut as if with a clasp): attach, join, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
Related terms
- enclasp
Translations
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “clasp”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
Anagrams
- calps, claps, scalp
clasp From the web:
- what clasp should your bra be on
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couple
English
Alternative forms
- copel (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English couple, from Old French couple, from Latin c?pula. Doublet of copula.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?k?p?l/
- Rhymes: -?p?l
Noun
couple (plural couples)
- 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; […]
- 1729, Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
- Two of the same kind connected or considered together.
- A couple fewer people show up every week.
- 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby
- […] couple of tables; one of which bore some preparations for supper; while, on the other […]
- (informal) 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, A. Henry Savage Landor, Across Coveted Lands:
- When we got on board again after a couple of hours on shore […]
- 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby
- One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
- (physics) 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.
- (architecture) A couple-close.
- (obsolete) That which joins or links two things together; a bond or tie; a coupler.
- I’ll keep my stables where
I lodge my wife; I’ll go in couples with her;
- I’ll keep my stables where
Usage notes
- A traditional and still broadly accepted usage of couple is as a noun followed by "of" to mean "two", as in "a couple of people". In this usage, "a couple of" is equivalent to "a pair of".
- The very widespread use of the same expression (e.g. "a couple of people") to mean any small number is often considered informal but is in fact very old and often considered unobjectionable on all levels of style, sometimes even contradictorily by the same publication that labels this use as informal elsewhere on the same page, e.g. the American Heritage Dictionary.
- 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 [= a few friends].
- Wait a couple of minutes [= a few minutes].
- Couple or a couple is also used informally and formally as an adjective or determiner (see definition below) to mean "a few", in which case it is not followed by "of". Many usage manuals advise against this widespread use although the Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out that this use before a word indicating degree is standard in both US and UK English (e.g. "a couple more examples" or "a couple less problems"). Only its use before an ordinary plural noun is an Americanism, which the dictionary explains is "common in speech and in writing that is not meant to be formal or elevated". This use is especially frequent with numbers, time, and other measurements, such as "a couple hundred", "a couple minutes", and "a couple dozen".
Synonyms
- (two partners):
- (two things of the same kind): brace, pair; see also Thesaurus:duo
- (a small number of): few, handful
Derived terms
Translations
Adjective
couple (not comparable)
- (informal, US) Two or (a) small number of.
Determiner
couple
- (colloquial, US) Two or a few, a small number of.
Verb
couple (third-person singular simple present couples, present participle coupling, simple past and past participle coupled)
- (transitive) 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.
- (transitive, dated) To join in wedlock; to marry.
- (intransitive) 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 [...]
- 1987 Alan Norman Bold & Robert Giddings, Who was really who in fiction, Longman
Synonyms
- (to join together): affix, attach, put together; see also Thesaurus:join
- (to join in wedlock): bewed, espouse; see also Thesaurus:marry
- (to join in sexual intercourse): have sex, make love; see also Thesaurus:copulate
Derived terms
- coupling (noun)
- coupling rod (a rod that couples)
- decouple, decoupled
- uncouple
Translations
References
Anagrams
- culpeo
French
Etymology
From Old French couple, from Vulgar Latin *c?pla, from Latin c?pula. Doublet of copule.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kupl/
Noun
couple m (plural couples)
- two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship
- (physics) a force couple; a pure moment
- (mathematics) an ordered pair
Noun
couple f (plural couples)
- (animal husbandry) An accessory used to tightly attach two animals next to each other by the neck.
- (regional) a pair of something.
- (Canada) a couple of something, not to be mistaken as a few.
Related terms
- couplage
- coupler
Further reading
- “couple” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Anagrams
- copule, copulé
Middle English
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Old French couple, from Latin c?pula.
Alternative forms
- cuple, copull, cupple, cople, coupull, cowpulle, copill, cupil
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?kup?l/, /?kupl?/, /?ku?p?l/
Noun
couple (plural couples or couple)
- A couple; two people joined by a marital union or matrimony.
- A pair of animals of opposing genders (in a breeding context)
- A group of two things or animals, a pair (never three or more as in modern English)
- A lead or tie linked to two dogs and used to restrain them.
- A measurement for fruits, especially when dried.
- (architecture) One of two opposing roof beams (or the two as a pair)
- (rare) Sexual intercourse; the act of sex.
Derived terms
- couplen
- couplyng
Descendants
- English: couple
- Scots: couple, kipple
References
- “c?uple, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-06.
Etymology 2
Verb
couple
- Alternative form of couplen
Old French
Alternative forms
- cople
- cuple
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin *copla, from Latin c?pula.
Noun
couple f (oblique plural couples, nominative singular couple, nominative plural couples)
- couple (two things)
- sexual liaison
Usage notes
- Occasionally used as a masculine noun (le couple)
Descendants
couple From the web:
- what couples are left on dancing with the stars
- what couples from the bachelor are still together
- what couples are together from ready to love
- what couples are together from love is blind
- what couple won dancing with the stars
- what couple are we
- what couples do together
- what couples are together from love island
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