covered couch
- noun
- Archaic
:
silla cubierta
- The queen traveled through the streets in a covered couch, shielded from public view.
Examples
-
The ancient nobles preferred a covered couch for their journeys to ensure privacy and comfort.
-
Servants lifted the covered couch onto their shoulders and began the ceremonial procession.
-
The covered couch was perfect for our picnic.
-
She sat on the covered couch under the trees.
-
Servants lifted the covered couch onto their shoulders and began the ceremonial procession.
-
The ancient nobles preferred a covered couch for their journeys to ensure privacy and comfort.
-
The queen traveled through the streets in a covered couch, shielded from public view.
How Enclosed
Surface Forms
Morphology
At a basic level a B1 learner who knows 'covered' and 'couch' will readily interpret this as a couch that is covered (i.e., has a covering or canopy), so the core composition is transparent. However, the given definition specifies a specialized, portable litter-like seat carried by people/animals — features (portability, being carried) are not predictable from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The covered couch was literally a covered couch, a low seat with a cloth cover that servants carried for a rider to sit in. Imagine a queen sitting inside, hidden under the cover while people carried her through the street. So the phrase came to mean 'a seat that could be carried with a cloth cover for privacy'.