couple three
See also: couple-three
English
Etymology
couple + three
Determiner
couple three
- (colloquial, US) Two or three or a similarly small number of.
- 1976: Mendocino County Remembered: An Oral History, Mendocino County Historical Society
- So he brought in a full quart of whiskey, poured part of it out, left a couple, three inches left in the bottle.
- 1998: Sanctuary by Nora Roberts
- I figure we might make it to the bed--if you're set on being traditional--in a couple, three hours.
- 2001: Love Street by Susan Perly
- One day not met, yet, nor even on that street alone has been sighted, then a couple three days later after the fullness of fades, they go.
- 2004: A New Life by Bernard Malamud
- Then why don't you let me take the paper over for a couple-three days and ask Avis to finish the job?
- 2007: Fort Pillow by Harry Turtledove
- General Chalmers is camped a couple-three miles in back of us.
- 2012: A Man of Honor by Loree Lough
- Cops picked her up at the Greyhound station a couple-three winters ago, shivering, hungry, dirty as a gutter rat.
- 1976: Mendocino County Remembered: An Oral History, Mendocino County Historical Society
Usage notes
- Unlike couple, which is generally used as a noun, couple three is used only as a determiner and thus not generally followed by of.