Green’s Dictionary of Slang

an eccentric, a mad person, one in need of psychiatric help.

1969		Current Sl. I & II 22: Couch case...A psychotic.
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 12: I wanted to scream ‘nutty,’ ‘crazy,’ ‘fruitcake’ and ‘couch case’.

(US) a young man (with suggestions of effeminacy) who frequents hotel lobbies in the hope of finding some form of victim.

1917		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 4 June [synd. col.] Seen around the town: [...] A Claridge house detective ousting some Couch Chameleons from the lobby.
1917		O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 12 June [synd. col.] It is true that a few pommaded and highly manicured young Couch Chamelions have been forced to enlist. but other young men are taking their places.

(US) love-making on a couch.

1967

E. Shepard Doom Pussy 55: What sports do you like? Couch checkers?

1. a TV remote control unit.

1989

P. Munro Sl. U.

2. (also couch commando) the person operating the controller.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] (Josh changes the channel from Beavis and Butthead to the News) cher: Hey! God, you just got here and already you’re playing couch Commando!

(US) a poor or miserly man who prefers to court a woman in her own house than take her out on the town.

1918		Sun (NY) 11 July 16/6: The open season on animals known[...] as lounge lizards and couch cooties which infest the Broadway trotteries in the winter time, also has come to a close.
1920		Columbian Eve. Missourian (MO) 19 Nov. 3/4: Teahounds infesting Missouri University [...] It has but lately come to Columbia and is thought to have evolved [...] from fop, dude, lounge-lizard and couch-cootie.
1921		V.B. Shore Heritage 139: He patted her hand placatingly. ‘Only, if that couch cootie is bothering her — ’ ‘Now, Larry, stop saving women. It's a habit with you. And they don’t want to be saved’.

sexual intercourse (on a couch).

c.2003

B. Grobler ‘Tech Men’ on Technikon Pretoria Hockey Club 🌐 Team you enjoy most playing Couch Hockey: Elsa.

masturbation.

2002		‘xpi3’ ‘Male & Female Masturbation Terms’ at Spankmag.com 22 Oct. 🌐 Couch hockey for one.
2003		S. Raulie ‘The Fun Friends Farm’ on Sat. Night You 🌐 Director: (looking down at Jao Ping’s ‘big friend’) Well, it looks like your friend is a little excited right now, but have you ever slapped him around a bit? Showed him who’s boss? Jao Ping: Oh sure. I play couch hockey all the time. Just the other night I had a hat trick game.

(US) a state of inertia induced by excessive drug consumption.

2004

Observer Mag. 13 June 51: There’s the passivity that Americans call ‘couch lock’.

(orig. US) one who is addicted to watching TV and who does this while lying on the couch, as inert and brain-dead as a potato.

1979		L.A. Times (California Record edn) 28 Dec. IV 1/6: The Humboldt State Marching Lumberjacks...and the Couch Potatoes who will be lying on couches watching television as they are towed toward the parade route .
1983		(ref. to 1976–9) Mingo & Armstrong Official Couch Potato Hbk 63–67: The Couch Potatoes, like almost everything good about Television, had their origins in sunny Southern California [...] Tom Lacino coined the term ‘Couch Potato’ [...] In 1979, the Couch Potato surfaced in Pasadena’s famous Doo Dah Parade.
1992		Zora Young ‘Football Widow’ 🎵 I’m a football widow, and you a couch potato.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 42: You kin talk aboot gittin oaf yir erse. Mister fuckin couch tattie hisself.
1999		Indep. Rev. 9 July 11: The dad [...] is a sad, balding couch potato.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 49: I don’t care to spend the rest of my days servicing a couch potato.
2012		Brown Co. Democrat (Nashville, IN) 11 Apr. 9/1: True couch taters can relax in the VIP lounge.
2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 Fall .

living with friends and thus sleeping on a succession of couches.

2007		B. Coleman Check the Technique 180: ‘Back then, in 1989, I was sorta homeless, just couch surfin’, with this girl or that girl, in this hotel or that hotel for a couple days’.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 28: ‘It’s only a mattress on the floor,’ he said. ‘But it’s better than couch-surfing’.
2017		Sydney Morn. Herald 10 July 🌐 He often balanced homelessness with acting gigs, alternating sleeping rough with couch-surfing.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 294: He had to move out his apartment and then he been couch-surfin for a while.

(US) to laze around, to be indolent.

2008

‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 210: ‘I don’t want to dream and I don’t want to fade out,’ I whispered. ‘I don’t want to ride this couch for the rest of my life’.