couchant

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

From Middle English couchant, from Middle French couchant.

The apex stones of these dormers, together with those of the gables, were surmounted by grotesque figures in rampant, passant, and couchant variety. — A pair of blue eyes, Thomas Hardy
We lay thee, close within our reach, Here, where the grass is smooth and warm, Between the holly and the beech, Where oft we watch'd thy couchant form, Asleep, yet lending half an ear To travellers on the Portsmouth road;-- There build we thee, O guardian dear, Mark'd with a stone, thy last abode! — Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold, Matthew Arnold
It is a favourite show-place, winning perhaps more attention than it deserves in comparison with other places near it; but the rocky and turf-clad headland, with its traces of a far-distant past, is really very beautiful, reaching like a couchant beast into the waves that are sometimes of the purest blue, sometimes white with seething foam. — The Cornwall Coast, Arthur L. (Arthur Leslie) Salmon

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