▪ I. † ˈcoucher1 Obs.
Also 4 coucheour.
[app. a. Anglo-Fr. *coucheour: cf. F. coucheur ‘a coucher’ (Cotgr.).]
? A couch-maker, an upholsterer.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1597 Carpentours, cotelers, coucheours. 1415 in York Myst. Introd. 23 Tapisers, Couchers. c 1440 Ibid. xxx. 270 (heading) The Tapiteres and Couchers. |
▪ II. coucher2
(ˈkaʊtʃə(r))
Also 5 ? co(u)choure.
[app. a. Anglo-Fr. *couchour = F. coucheur he who lies, a lier, f. coucher: see couch v.1]
1. One lying down: in 15th c. quot. perh. one confined to bed; in Sc. one who lies when he ought to be active, a laggard, coward, poltroon.
| 14.. Seven Deadly Sins 76 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 217 He [Auaryssia]..kepith me low lyke a cochoure. a 1661 Rutherford Lett. i. lxv. (Jam.), To go to the camp with Christ..not..sit at the fire with couchers. 1833 D. Moir Mansie Wauch iv. (1849) 20, I took the coucher's blow. |
2. One who couches or crouches.
| 1880 Browning Dram. Idylls Ser. ii. Doctor ―, The coucher by the sick man's head. |
† 3. A table-cloth; = couch n.1 4. Obs. rare.
| 1572 Inv. in T. D. Whitaker Hist. Craven (1812) 229 One cowcher, or carpett, for a longe table. |
† 4. A large book, such as remains lying for use on a desk or table. Obs. Cf. ledger.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 84 A whole boke is commenly called indifferentlye a volume, a boke, a coucher: but..A volume is lesse than a boke: and a boke lesse than a coucher. |
† b. esp. A large breviary that lay permanently on a desk in church or chapel. Obs.
| 1444 Will of Clovyle (Somerset Ho.), Librum vocatum a Cowcher ad deseruiendum in ecclesia. 1467 Ripon Ch. Acts 235 Do et lego ecclesiæ collegiatæ Ripon', unum coucher magnum de usu Ebor', quem volo..in stallo præbendæ de Thorp cathena ferrea ligari. 1534 in E. Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 199 Item an other cowcher with ij claspis of siluer. 1549 Act 3–4 Edw. VI, c. 10 §1 All Books called..Couchers, Journals, Ordinals..shall be..abolished. 1559 Injunct. Q. Eliz. in Sparrow Coll. (1675) 47 Item, That the Church-Wardens..shall deliver unto our Visitors the Inventories of Vestments, Copes..and specially of Grayles, Couchers..and such like. |
† c. A large cartulary or register; a coucher-book. Obs.
| 1607–37 J. Cowell Interpr., Coucher, the general book in which a corporation entreth their particular Acts for a perpetuall remembrance of them. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Coucher..In some old Statutes, it is taken for a Book, in which a Corporation, etc. Register their particular Acts. |
† 5. A resident commercial agent or factor in a foreign place. Obs. Cf. ambassador leger.
| 1601 J. Keymor Dutch Fishing in Phenix (1721) I. 227 She [the Herring-Buss] imployeth..at Land Viewers, Packers..Couchers to make the Herrings lawful Merchandizes. 1607 J. Cowell Interpr., Cowcher signifieth a factour that continueth in some place..for Trafique. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Coucher, an old Word for a Factor residing in some Foreign Country for Traffick, as formerly in Gascoigne to buy Wines. |
† 6. A setter dog. Obs.—0
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Coucher..also a Setter, or Setting-dog. |
7. Comb. † coucher-book, a large cartulary.
| 1611 Cotgr., Chartulaire, a Terrier, or Coucher-book. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. To Rdr. 17 Old charters that I met with among the Kings Records, and in the Coucher-bookes of Monasteries. 1640 Somner Antiq. Canterb. 155 All..Coucher-books or Liegers and Records that ever I could yet see. 1891 J. T. Fowler Coucher-bk. of Selby (Yks. Record Ser.) I. xvii, The Coucher book, Cartulary, or Register, here printed, is a manuscript on vellum..13 × 9 inches. |
▪ III. ˈcoucher3 Paper-making.
[in mod.Fr. coucheur (etymol. = prec.) and couchart.]
1. The workman who lays the sheet of pulp on the felt to be pressed (in making hand-made paper).
| 1751 [see couch v.1 6]. 1807 Specif. Cobb's Patent No. 3084. 3 The..machinery may be worked..without requiring the assistance of a coucher. 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 365 (Paper Maker) The Coucher receives the mould from the first man, and turns on the sheet upon a felt or woollen cloth. 1855 R. Herring Paper (1863) 51 Montgolfier contrived three figures of wood to do the work of the vatman, the coucher, and the layer. |
2. A mechanical contrivance for doing the same.
| 1857 J. Munsell Chronol. Paper-Making (1870) 167 A coucher and a scraper combined. |
▪ IV. coucher4
var. of couchee.