couch a hogshead

present singular third person couches a hogshead · participle present couching a hogshead · participle past couched a hogshead · past couched a hogshead

1. UKobsoletethieves' cantTo lie down to sleep.

   I couched a hogshead in a Skypper this darkemans.

   1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, T. Bensley, published 1814, page 66

   2 more examples

   Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough, mill a ken, or nip a bung, and then we'll couch a hogshead under the ruffmans, and there you shall wap with me, and I'll niggle with you.

   1611, Thomas Middleton, “The Roaring Girl”, in Arthur Henry Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton, volume 4, published 1885, act 5, scene 1, pages 128–129

   Mayhap we have been in the same bousing ken or stalling ken at some time. Mayhap we have couched a hogshead at the same house in Southwark.

   1992, Cynthia Morgan, Court of Shadows

   Synonyms: go to bed