<B>county council,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (in England) the representative governing body of an administrative county, consisting of aldermen and councillors. </DL>
<A NAME="countycourt">
<B>county court,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>in the United States: <DD><B> a. </B>(in some states) an administrative body of a county. <DD><B> b. </B>(Law.) a court of justice with jurisdiction, usually, over one county. <DD><B> 2. </B>in England: <DD><B> a. </B>a local civil court of justice, chiefly for the recovery of small debts. <DD><B> b. </B>(Historical.) a court held by the sheriff of a county for judicial or administrative purposes. </DL>
<A NAME="countyfair">
<B>county fair,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fair, usually held once a year, at which the products of a county are displayed and competitions are held for first prizes in each product. </DL>
<A NAME="countyfarm">
<B>county farm,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (formerly) a farm supported by a county, on which poor people were allowed to live and work. </DL>
<A NAME="countypalatine">
<B>county palatine,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the land or jurisdiction of a count palatine. </DL>
<A NAME="countyschool">
<B>county school,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a school supported by a local community; council school. </DL>
<A NAME="countyseat">
<B>county seat</B> or <B>town,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the town or city where the government of a county is located. </DL>
<A NAME="coup">
<B>coup</B> (1), noun, pl. <B>coups.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a sudden, brilliant action; unexpected, clever move; master stroke. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=coup d'etat.</B> <DD><B> 3. </B>the act or practice by some American Indians, especially Plains Indians, of touching a live opponent with a stick (coup stick) in battle and moving on without killing him, as a feat of bravery. <BR><I>expr. <B>count coup,</B> </I>to be the first among Indian warriors to touch an enemy with a coup stick. <BR> <I>Ex. Warriors who counted coups wore eagle feathers as signs of their courage.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coup">
<B>coup</B> (2), intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Scottish.) to upset, overturn, or tilt. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) to strike; come to blows. <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Scottish.) <B>1. </B>to upset; tilt. <DD><B> 2. </B>to empty out. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdefoudre">
<B>coup de foudre, </B>pl. <B>coups de foudre.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>love at first sight. <DD><B> 2. </B>a startling or shocking event. <DD><B> 3. </B>(literally) thunderclap. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdegrace">
<B>coup de grace, </B>pl. <B>coups de grace.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an action that gives a merciful death to a suffering animal or person, especially a shot to assure the instant death of a person who has been shot by a firing squad or the like. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a finishing stroke. <BR> <I>Ex. If this is so, we are but one step and a half from a weapon which may well give the coup de grace to the whole human race (Norbert Wiener).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coupdemain">
<B>coup de main, </B>pl. <B>coups de main.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a sudden, unexpected attack with force, especially by an army. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) any sudden, forceful action. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdemaitre">
<B>coup de maitre,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a master stroke. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdepoing">
<B>coup de poing, </B>pl. <B>coups de poing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a paleolithic core tool or hand ax. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdereins">
<B>coup de reins,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>(in spearfishing) a quick dive in which the diver bends from the waist, snaps his legs straight into the air, and dives toward the fish. <DD><B> 2. </B>(literally) a stroke in the back. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdesoleil">
<B>coup de soleil,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) sunstroke. </DL>
<B>coup d'etat, </B>pl. <B>coups d'etat,</B> <B>coup d'etats.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a sudden and decisive act in politics, usually bringing about a change of government unlawfully and by force. <BR> <I>Ex. It is nearly eight years since a coup d'etat brought the present Government into power (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coupdetheatre">
<B>coup de theatre,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a sensational turn or trick in a play. <BR> <I>Ex. The text exhibits in a high degree Verdi's weaknesses in mistaking coups de theatre for drama (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any sudden action that produces a sensational effect. <DD><B> 3. </B>(literally) stroke of theater. </DL>
<A NAME="coupdoeil">
<B>coup d'oeil,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a view taken in at a brief glance. <BR> <I>Ex. He prides himself on his penetrating coup d'oeil, which makes him a master at rapid chess and crossword puzzles, and at sizing up situations (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(literally) stroke of eye. </DL>
<A NAME="coupe">
<B>coupe, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a closed, two-door automobile seating two or five people. <DD><B> 2. </B>a four-wheeled, closed carriage with a seat for two people inside and a seat for the driver outside. <DD><B> 3. </B>an end compartment, with a seat on only one side, in a European railroad car, now not commonly seen. </DL>
<A NAME="coupe">
<B>coupe, </B>noun. =coupe.</DL>
<A NAME="couped">
<B>couped, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) having the extremities of a head or limb cut off evenly so as not to touch the edges of the shield. </DL>
<A NAME="couple">
<B>couple, </B>noun, verb, <B>-pled,</B> <B>-pling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>two things of the same kind that go together; pair. <BR> <I>Ex. a couple of dice. He bought a couple of tires for his bicycle.</I> (SYN) mates, couplet. <DD><B> b. </B>(Informal.) a small number; a few, usually two. <BR> <I>Ex. She will arrive in a couple of hours. Give me a couple of those apples--about four of them.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a man and a woman who are married, engaged, or partners in a dance. <BR> <I>Ex. It is observed in old couples ... who have been housemates for a course of years, that they grow alike (Emerson).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Mechanics.) a pair of equal, parallel forces acting in opposite directions, and tending to produce rotation. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Electricity.) a voltaic couple; thermocouple. <DD><B> 5. </B>that which unites two. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to join together; join together in pairs. <BR> <I>Ex. The brakeman coupled two freight cars.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) to marry. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Electricity.) to connect by a coupling. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to join in a pair; pair. <DD><B> 2. </B>to copulate. <BR> <I>Ex. Begin these wood birds but to couple now? (Shakespeare).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>couples,</B> </I>a leash for holding two hounds together. <BR> <I>Ex. Hounds yelled in their couples (Scott).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coupled">
<B>coupled, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>tied, joined together. <BR> <I>Ex. coupled hounds.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>placed near to one another or side by side, especially in pairs. <BR> <I>Ex. coupled windows, coupled columns.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="couplement">
<B>couplement, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a connecting device; coupling. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) the act of coupling or fact of being coupled. </DL>
<A NAME="coupler">
<B>coupler, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person or thing that couples. <DD><B> 2. </B>a device used to join two railroad cars; coupling. <DD><B> 3. </B>a device in a pipe organ for coupling keys or keyboards so that they can be played together. <DD><B> 4. </B>a device used to connect electric circuits, such as a transformer that joins parts of a radio apparatus together by means of induction. </DL>
<A NAME="couples">
<B>couples, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>couple.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="couplet">
<B>couplet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>two successive lines of poetry, especially two that rhyme and have the same number of feet. (Example:) <DL COMPACT><DD> "Whose woods these are I think I know. <DL COMPACT><DD> His house is in the village though." <DL COMPACT><DD> (Robert Frost) <DD><B> 2. </B>a couple; pair. </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="coupling">
<B>coupling, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of joining together. <BR> <I>Ex. The coupling and uncoupling of railroad cars usually requires an engine.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a device for joining together parts of machinery, such as the ends of shafts, especially in order to transmit motion. <DD><B> 3. </B>a device used to join two railroad cars; coupler. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Electricity.) <DD><B> a. </B>a device or arrangement for transferring electrical energy from one circuit to another. <DD><B> b. </B>the relation between two circuits resulting from such a device or arrangement. <DD><B> 5. </B>the part of the body of a dog or horse between the hips and the shoulders. </DL>
<A NAME="couplingpin">
<B>coupling pin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pin used in joining railroad cars and parts of machines. </DL>
<A NAME="coupon">
<B>coupon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>a part of a ticket, advertisement, or package, that gives the person who holds it certain rights. <BR> <I>Ex. She saved the coupons from boxes of soap to get a free set of cups and saucers.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a form for name and address to order goods or obtain information. <DD><B> 2. </B>a printed statement of interest due on a bond that can be cut from the bond and presented for payment. </DL>
<A NAME="coupstick">
<B>coup stick,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a stick carried into battle by some American Indians with which the warrior tried to touch an opponent without killing him, as a mark of bravery. </DL>
<A NAME="courage">
<B>courage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>bravery; meeting danger without fear; fearlessness. <BR> <I>Ex. Although blinded by the explosion, he faced the future with courage.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) heart; mind; disposition. <BR><I>expr. <B>have the courage of one's convictions,</B> </I>to act as one believes one should. <BR> <I>Ex. He believed in the efficacy of the birch, and had the courage of his convictions (Hall Caine).</I> </DL>
