could

alternative archaic coulde · alternative archaic second person singular couldst · alternative archaic second person singular couldest · alternative archaic second person singular could'st · alternative obsolete coud · alternative obsolete cou'd

1. pastsimple past of can

   Before I was blind, I could see very well.

   4 more examples

   When I was young everybody could easily find a job in a matter of days.

   When I was your age, I could run 10mi in under an hour.

   I could only find the street, but I couldn't locate his house.

   I could distantly make out figures dancing in the village square.

2. conditional of can
   1. Used as a past subjunctive (contrary to fact).

      I wish I could fly!

      3 more examples

      "If I'd had a paddle I could've spun by that dashed root," Meekins said, feeling some apology due for the mishap. "When I first climbed out of that fool creek I thought my arm had got twisted off, but I guess it ain't."

      1921, William Alexander Fraser, Red Meekins, George H. Doran Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 32

      I think he could do it if he really wanted to.

      I'd have thought you could have done the dishes, at least.

   2. Used to politely ask for permission to do something.

      Could I borrow your coat?

   3. Used to politely ask for someone else to do something.

      Could you proofread this email?

      1 more example

      I wonder, you couldn't loan me the money, could you?

   4. Used to show the possibility that something might happen.

      We could rearrange the time if you like.

      1 more example

      Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

      2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55

   5. Used to suggest something.

      You could try adding more salt to the soup.

3. participlepastobsolete except Geordiepast participle of can

   I haven't could sleep.

   1981, Anthony Warner, English Auxiliaries: Structure and History, published 1993, →ISBN, page 222

plural coulds · alternative archaic coulde · alternative archaic second person singular couldst · alternative archaic second person singular couldest · alternative archaic second person singular could'st · alternative obsolete coud · alternative obsolete cou'd

1. Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

   Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.

   2010, Shushona Novos, The Personal Universal: A Guidebook for Spiritual Evolution, page 395

   1 more example

   When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.

   1996, Fred Shoemaker, Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible, page 88