couch

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A sofa.
• noun A sofa on which a patient lies while undergoing psychoanalysis or psychiatric treatment.
• noun The frame or floor on which grain, usually barley, is spread in malting.
• noun A layer of grain, usually barley, spread to germinate.
• noun A priming coat of paint or varnish used in artistic painting.
• intransitive verb To word in a certain manner; phrase.
• intransitive verb To cause (oneself) to lie down, as for rest.
• intransitive verb To embroider by laying thread flat on a surface and fastening it by stitches at regular intervals.
• intransitive verb To spread (grain) on a couch to germinate, as in malting.
• intransitive verb To lower (a spear, for example) to horizontal position, as for an attack.
• intransitive verb To lie down; recline, as for rest.
• intransitive verb To lie in ambush or concealment; lurk.
• intransitive verb To be in a heap or pile, as leaves for decomposition or fermentation.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Couch-grass.
• To lie in a heap or pile to decay and pass into compost, as leaves and litter.
• In agriculture, to clear, as land, from couch-grass.
• noun A bed; a place for sleep or rest.
• noun A long seat, commonly upholstered, having an arm at one end, and often a back, upon which one can rest at full length; a lounge.
• noun Any place for retirement and repose, as the lair of a wild beast, etc.
• noun The frame on which barley is spread to be malted.
• noun A layer, coating, or stratum.
• To lay down or away; put in a resting-place or in a repository of any kind; place; deposit.
• Specifically To cause to recline or lie upon a bed or other place of rest; dispose or place upon, or as upon, a couch or bed.
• In brewing, to spread out upon a floor, as steeped barley, in order to promote germination.
• In paper-making, to take (a sheet of pulp) from the mold or apron on which it has been formed, and place it upon a felt.
• To lay together closely.
• To cause to hide or seek concealment; cause to lie close or crouch.
• To include in the meaning of a word or statement; express; put in words; especially, to imply without distinctly stating; cover or conceal by the manner of stating: often, in the latter sense, with under: as, the compliment was couched in the most fitting terms; a threat was couched under his apparently friendly words.
• To lower (a spear) to a horizontal position; place (a spear) under the right armpit and grasp (it) with the right hand, thus presenting the point toward the enemy. The use of the rest was of late introduction, and was not essential to the couching of a spear.
• In surgery, to remove (a cataract) by inserting a needle through the coats of the eye and pushing the lens downward to the bottom of the vitreous humor, so as to be out of the axis of vision; remove a cataract from in this manner. See cataract, 3.
• To inlay; trim; adorn.
• To lie in a place of rest or deposit; rest in a natural bed or stratum.
• To lie on a couch, bed, or place of repose; lie down; take a recumbent posture.
• To lie as in ambush; be hidden or concealed; lie close; crouch.
• To lie down, crouch, or squat, as an animal.
• To bend or stoop, as under a burden.
• In embroidery, to lay the thread on the surface of the foundation and secure it by stitches of fine material. See couching, 5.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To lie down or recline, as on a bed or other place of rest; to repose; to lie.
• intransitive verb To lie down for concealment; to hide; to be concealed; to be included or involved darkly.
• intransitive verb obsolete To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to crouch.
• transitive verb To lay upon a bed or other resting place.
• transitive verb To arrange or dispose as in a bed; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.
• transitive verb To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.
• transitive verb (Paper Making) To transfer (as sheets of partly dried pulp) from the wire cloth mold to a felt blanket, for further drying.
• transitive verb To conceal; to include or involve darkly.
• transitive verb obsolete To arrange; to place; to inlay.
• transitive verb To put into some form of language; to express; to phrase; -- used with in and under.
• transitive verb (Med.) To treat by pushing down or displacing the opaque lens with a needle.