🛋️ A long seat 🛋️ A therapy bed 📝 To phrase carefully 🎨 A paint layer 🐇 To crouch down

couch

3 9.9

A thin flat layer of paint applied to a surface before painting

noun
/kaʊtʃ/

Specialized

: capa

The bright white couch allowed the bold reds and greens to stand out beautifully.

Examples

Using a spatula and toothpick, he would apply couch after couch of white base to the copper, enameling and counter-enameling in preparation for the designs.

Fiction book (1992)
Renoir's women lounging on their couches, round and plump with big bellies and full hips—if I looked like that, I'd be considered fat.

Fiction book (1992)
A soft layer of blue paint served as the couch for the vibrant colors that followed.
Before adding details, the artist applied a smooth couch to prepare the canvas.

Compounds

couch potato

Informal

11 4.3

A person who sits or lies down a lot, usually watching television

casting couch

Offensive

3 7.7

Asking for sex from someone who wants an acting job in return for a role

couch grass

1 7.5

A European grass with long underground roots that spreads quickly and becomes a common weed

covered couch

Archaic

9.9

A seat carried by people or animals that has a cover for privacy

studio couch

3.7

A couch that turns into a double bed

Surface Forms

couch singular

couches plural

Etymology

Couch in painting comes from the Old French couche meaning 'a layer' or 'a laying down', so a painter 'lays down' a thin 'couch' of paint as a first layer. That's why a couch in art is like a coat or layer put on the canvas.