couple

To have multiple alcoholic drinks (not necessarily just two), especially to the point of becoming mildly intoxicated. John's usually quite reticent around other people, but he becomes the life of the party after he's had a couple. Nothing helps me unwind after a long week of working like having a couple with some good friends.

A particularly unlikely or mismatched pair of people. Though the senator and her running mate are quite the odd couple on paper, the partnership is clearly intended to broaden the scope of her appeal to voters in the upcoming election. We're a bit of an odd couple, all right, but the differences between my girlfriend and I seem to balance each other out.

To be not very intelligent or of questionable mental capacity. It can appear in many different forms and variations (for example: a few bricks shy of a load, a few cards shy of a full deck, etc.) He says he's going to start a business selling bees as pets. I think he may be one sandwich short of a picnic.

two; two or three; a few; some; not many. Bill grabbed a couple of beers from the refrigerator. I hung a couple of pictures on the wall.

to join one person with another to make a pair. I coupled Todd with Amy for the dinner party.

to attach something to something. Couple this connector to that one. The railroad worker coupled on the next car in line. Couple the green one onto the red one.

to attach two parts of something together. Couple these two cars together and put them on track seven. You have to couple the ends of the two hoses together before you turn on the water.

to join one thing with another to make a pair. We coupled the budget issue with the staffing issue for our agenda.

[for one person] to join another person to form a pair. I decided to couple up with Larry. Larry and I coupled up with each other. By midnight, they all had coupled up and were dancing.

Euph. to have sexual intercourse with someone. They coupled with each other in a night of passion.

to connect or join to something. This railroad car will couple with the engine. These cars did not couple with the others properly, and there was almost an accident.

if someone is one sandwich short of a picnic, they are stupid or crazy After talking to him for about 10 minutes I decided he was definitely one sandwich short of a picnic.

very soon I'll be with you in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

Also, in two shakes of a lamb's tail Very quickly, very soon, as in I'll be with you in two shakes, or She'll be finished in two shakes of a lamb's tail. The longer idiom alludes to the friskiness of lambs; the shorter one may be an abbreviation of the longer one, or it may refer to the shaking of dice or any two quick movements. [Early 1800s]

see under strange bedfellows.

A peculiar alliance or combination, as in George and Arthur really are strange bedfellows, sharing the same job but totally different in their views . Although strictly speaking bedfellows are persons who share a bed, like husband and wife, the term has been used figuratively since the late 1400s. This particular idiom may have been invented by Shakespeare in The Tempest (2:2), "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." Today a common extension is politics makes strange bedfellows, meaning that politicians form peculiar associations so as to win more votes. A similar term is odd couple, a pair who share either housing or a business but are very different in most ways. This term gained currency with Neil Simon's Broadway play The Odd Couple and, even more, with the motion picture (1968) and subsequent television series based on it, contrasting housemates Felix and Oscar, one meticulously neat and obsessively punctual, the other extremely messy and casual.