Dictionary

couchette en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French couchette.

Meanings

1. (rare) A couch.
   • The doctor […] desired they would have the goodness to repose themselves without ceremony, each in his respective couchette, while he and his friend Mr. Pallet would place themselves upright at the ends, that they might have the pleasure of serving those that lay along. 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
2. A compartment on a passenger train having berths for sleeping.
   • But I was disturbed to find a blot on my conception of the ultra-modern S.N.C.F.—the couchette car offered neither hot water nor, unless I looked in the wrong places, an electric razor point. 1962 July, Marcus Newman, “By Car-Sleeper to Switzerland”, in Modern Railways, page 50:
3. A berth in such a compartment.

Forms