couple up

present singular third person couples up · participle present coupling up · participle past coupled up · past coupled up

1. transitiveTo put into a couple; to put into, or connect together as, a group of two.

   It is utterly impossible for any factory in the United States to couple up 8,000 feet of hose within ten hours unless they had thirty or forty men on and have the couplings made, […]

   1892, Congressional Serial Set, page 492

2. intransitiveTo get into pairs; to become a group of two.

   For this next challenge, you'll need to couple up with someone.

   1 more example

   By contrast, lesbians are sexually sedate. They don’t cruise sex clubs. They couple up and stay coupled, and they like cuddling and hugging more than they do serious, genitally-based sex.

   1999 March 20, Natalie Angiers, The Guardian