"couch" = to hedge

[Jonathan Lighter]

In 1880, somebody is couching conceptions *under metaphors.*

In 1691 the Old Testament is couching up the New.

Though the construction with "under" sounds unidiomatic to my 21st C. ear,
the meaning in 1880 is that someone is concealing the conceptions under
something.
In 1691 the something is apparently expressing something, and it's a good
thing the def. says "in an obscure or veiled way," because modern usage has
come pretty far from that sense.

"Couching one's statements," period, means hedging them, expressing them
cautiously.

So it's new and different.

JL
On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 10:01 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "couch" = to hedge
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't understand.  If Jon means that the "predictable
> associated  phrase" can't be suppressed without losing the meaning,
> then what about "1880 J. CAIRD Philos. Relig. vii. 195 Materialistic
> metaphors under which our spiritual conceptions are couched."?  And I
> think none of the OED's quotations under 15.b include such a
> phrase.  For instance, the "under which" of 1880 does not address the
> notion of caution, just the mode of expression of the couching.  And
> the "1691 E. TAYLOR tr. Behmen's Theos. Philos. 410 The whole New
> Testament is couched up in the Old." doesn't have a "cautiously" phrase
> either.
>
> Joel
>
> At 9/15/2009 04:41 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Close but no Cigarillo.
> >
> >Like "fraught," this little item was created by the suppression of a
> >predictable associated  phrase, in this case something like "...in
> cautious
> >terms."
> >
> >
> >JL
> >
> >On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 2:14 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject:      Re: "couch" = to hedge
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > A humourous bit that turned up when I consulted the OED:
> > >
> > > Find word:  couch
> > > 6       couch   found in   studio
> > >
> > > I have a sense of "couch" like CNN's.  I think it's:
> > >
> > > couch, v.1,  15.b. To express in an obscure or veiled way; to cover
> > > up (an idea, meaning, etc.) under, in, etc. (Formerly sometimes with
> > > up: cf. to wrap up.)
> > >
> > > At 9/15/2009 11:43 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > >CNN reports that Ben Bernanke, "like many economists, has been
> couching
> > > his
> > > >statements."
> > > >
> > > >Till just now, when the declared the recession "very likely over."
> > > >
> > > >JL
> > > >
> > > >--
> > > >"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> > > >Platypus"
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