different between couple vs fix

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)

1. 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; […]

2. 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 […]

3. (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 […]
4. One of the pairs of plates of two metals which compose a voltaic battery, called a voltaic couple or galvanic couple.
5. (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.
6. (architecture) A couple-close.
7. (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;

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)

1. (informal, US) Two or (a) small number of.

Determiner

couple

1. (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)

1. (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.

2. (transitive, dated) To join in wedlock; to marry.
3. (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 [...]

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)

1. two partners in a romantic or sexual relationship

2. (physics) a force couple; a pure moment
3. (mathematics) an ordered pair

Noun

couple f (plural couples)

1. (animal husbandry) An accessory used to tightly attach two animals next to each other by the neck.
2. (regional) a pair of something.
3. (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)

1. A couple; two people joined by a marital union or matrimony.
2. A pair of animals of opposing genders (in a breeding context)
3. A group of two things or animals, a pair (never three or more as in modern English)
4. A lead or tie linked to two dogs and used to restrain them.
5. A measurement for fruits, especially when dried.
6. (architecture) One of two opposing roof beams (or the two as a pair)
7. (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

1. 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)

1. couple (two things)
2. sexual liaison

Usage notes

• Occasionally used as a masculine noun (le couple)

Descendants

English

Etymology

From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fixe (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin f?xus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from f?gere (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?eyg?- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?f?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Verb

fix (third-person singular simple present fixes, present participle fixing, simple past and past participle fixt or fixed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.
   1. (transitive, by extension) (Of a piercing look) to direct at someone.
2. (transitive) To attach; to affix; to hold in place or at a particular time.
   1. (transitive, figuratively, usually in the passive) To focus or determine (oneself, on a concept); to fixate.

3. (transitive) To mend, to repair.

4. (transitive, informal) To prepare (food or drink).
5. (transitive) To make (a contest, vote, or gamble) unfair; to privilege one contestant or a particular group of contestants, usually before the contest begins; to arrange immunity for defendants by tampering with the justice system via bribery or extortion

6. (transitive, US, informal) To surgically render an animal, especially a pet, infertile.

7. (transitive, mathematics, sematics) To map a (point or subset) to itself.
8. (transitive, informal) To take revenge on, to best; to serve justice on an assumed miscreant.

9. (transitive) To render (a photographic impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensitive to the action of light.
11. (transitive, chemistry, biology) To convert into a stable or available form.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Abney to this entry?)

12. (intransitive) To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest.
    • 1665, Edmund Waller, “Upon Her Maiesties New Buildings at Somerset-House”:

      Accu?ing ?ome malignant Star,
      Not Britain, for that fateful War,
      Your kindne?s bani?hes your fear,
      Re?olv’d to fix for ever here.

    • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer:

      A cheerless place! the solitary Bee,
      Whose buzzing was the only sound of life,
      Flew there on restless wing,
      Seeking in vain one blossom, where to fix.

13. (intransitive) To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance.

    • quicksilver will 'fix, so asto endure the hammer

Alternative forms

• fixe (archaic)

Synonyms

• (pierce): impale, run through, stick
• (hold in place): join, put together, unite; see also Thesaurus:join
• (mend; repair): patch, put to rights, rectify; see also Thesaurus:repair
• (make a contest unfair): doctor, rig
• (render infertile): neuter, spay, desex, castrate
• (settle or remain permanently): establish, settle down

Antonyms

• (to hold in place): move, change

Derived terms

• affix, affixative, fixed
• fixings, fixity, fixety
• fix someone's wagon, fix someone up with

Descendants

• ? Dutch: fixen, fiksen

Translations

Noun

fix (plural fixes)

1. A repair or corrective action.

   Hyponyms: bugfix, technofix

2. A difficult situation; a quandary or dilemma; a predicament.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation

3. (informal) A single dose of an addictive drug administered to a drug user.
4. A prearrangement of the outcome of a supposedly competitive process, such as a sporting event, a game, an election, a trial, or a bid.
5. A determination of location.

6. (US) fettlings (mixture used to line a furnace)

Descendants

• ? French: fixe, fix

Translations

References

Further reading

• fix on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Bouyei

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *w?j? (“fire”). Cognate with Thai ?? (fai), Northern Thai ?? (fai), Lao ?? (fai), Lü ?? (fay), Tai Dam ??, Shan ??? (pháy) or ??? (fáy), Tai Nüa ??? (fäy), Zhuang feiz, Saek ???.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi??/

Noun

fix

1. fire

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fixus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?fiks/
• Rhymes: -iks

Adjective

fix (feminine fixa, masculine plural fixos, feminine plural fixes)

1. fixed, not changing
2. stationary

Derived terms

• fixar
• telefonia fixa

Further reading

• “fix” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?f?ks]
• Rhymes: -?ks

Noun

fix m

1. felt-tip pen, marker

Synonyms

• popisova?

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

fix

1. first-person singular present indicative of fixen
2. imperative of fixen

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiks/
• Homophone: fixe

Noun

fix m (plural fix)

1. Alternative spelling of fixe

German

Etymology

Latin f?xus

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [f?ks]
• Homophone: Ficks

Adjective

fix (comparative fixer, superlative am fixesten)

1. fixed (costs, salary)

   Synonym: fest

2. quick

   Synonym: schnell

3. smart

   Synonym: aufgeweckt

Declension

Descendants

• ? Hungarian: fix

See also

• fix und fertig

Hungarian

Etymology

From German fix, from French fixe, from Latin figere, fixus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?fiks]
• Rhymes: -iks

Adjective

fix (not comparable)

1. fixed, steady

   Synonyms: rögzített, megszabott

2. immovable

   Synonym: szilárd

3. sure, certain

   Synonyms: biztos, bizonyos

Declension

Derived terms

(Compound words):

• fixpont

(Expressions):

• fix objektív

Noun

fix

1. a steady salary

Declension

References

Old French

Alternative forms

• fils, fis, fiz

Noun

fix m

1. inflection of fil:
   1. oblique plural
   2. nominative singular

Romanian

Etymology

From French fixe, from Latin fixus.

Adjective

fix m or n (feminine singular fix?, masculine plural fic?i, feminine and neuter plural fixe)

1. fixed

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

• Homophone: ficks

Adjective

fix

1. fixed, inflexible, rigid

   en fix idé

   a fixed idea

Declension

Related terms

• fixstjärna

Noun

fix c

1. a fix, a dose of an addictive drug

Declension