COUCH Copy link • COUCH 1. cubile (general term, also that of wild beasts in a forest). Vid: BED. 2. TRANS., sternere, prosternere. To couch one’s self any where, se abdere in occultum (of persons). To be couched under anything, latere or abditum latere sub aliqua re. [Vid: To CONCEAL.] To place in ambush, in insidiis locare, collocare, or disponere. [Vid. 3. INTRANS.] To couch a lance, spear, etc., hastam porrigere, less commonly projicere (to extend it, e.g., as a bayonet; Vid: Brem. on Nep. Chabr., 1, 2): hastam ad ictum parare. To receive an attack with their lances couched, projecta hasta impetum excipere hostium (Nep., Chabr., 1, 2): to ride against anybody with couched lance, infesto spiculo petere aliquem (Liv., 2, 20), with lances couched, infestis hastis (e.g., concitare equos, Liv., 23, 47); infestis cuspidibus (e.g., ruere in medium agmen hostium, Liv., 10, 41). To operate on the eye, *glaucomam oculis alicujus objectam solvere. To couch in writing, litteris consignare; litteris or scriptis mandare; per scripturam complecti; conscribere. 4. INTR., Lie down, throw one’s self down; sterni: se or corpus abjicere: decumbere: procumbere (general terms as well of persons as animals): subsidere (to sink down): conquiniscere (pre-classical, Plaut. = caput inclinare, Prisc.): to couch in the grass, se abjicere in herba (☞ not in herbam, Vid: Interpp., Cic., De Or., 1, 7, quite at the end): cubare (to rest): recubare: recumbere (with accessory notion of leaning backward). To couch down when the enemy hurled their darts, subsidere adversus emissa tela (Liv.): to couch down in the rear, subsidere in subsidiis (Cic.). To lie in secret or ambush, delitescere in aliquo loco; se abdere in locum; se occultare loco or in loco (hide one’s self; SYN. in HIDE): latibulis se tegere (of wild beasts): abditum latere; in occulto se continere; abditum et inclusum in occulto latere (to keep one’s self hidden): subsidere in insidiis (of an ambush): to couch, or be couched in ambush, in insidiis esse or subsistere.