A Lot Of A Couple Of

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A 'couple' is two of something, typically two people or a matching set of things.
But it seems like there is ambiguity over what 'a couple of' means. Dictionaries often claim that, 'a couple of' means two as in, 'a couple of friends' and using 'a couple of' as in 'a couple of minutes' to mean several minutes is informal.
However, it seems as though 'a couple of' to mean several is far more common in usage than to mean specifically 'two'. To the extent that I struggle to come up with an example of, 'a couple of' that isn't ambiguous out of context. And 'a couple of' to mean precisely two almost never seems to be used in formal or technical writing.
Furthermore, it seems as though, 'I've made a couple of wine and cheese' is a perfectly fine sentence.
I'm thinking that 'a couple of' is potentially an ambiguous amount to the extent that it could mean almost any number. That is, instead of 'a couple of' meaning 'there are two of this thing,' it means, 'there is a coupling of these things,' and potentially the individual parts of those couples could contain an infinite amount.
Meaning 'a couple of minutes' or 'a couple of biscuits' could mean more than two without it being informal English.
I'm curious if there's a historical/logical/grammatical explanation for why 'a couple of' should mean two.
Chester
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I'd dispute that "I've made a couple of wine and cheese" is a valid sentence: you could use "a coupling of wine and cheese" but that's a different expression. "Couple" means "two/pair" or "a few" not a coupling/union. As to the rest of the question, I'd recommend consulting a historical dictionary such as the OED to see how the word was originally used. – Stuart F Nov 16 '18 at 11:30
I'd grant that 'a coupling of wine and cheese' is less awkward but I don't really see why you can't have a couple that is made of wine and cheese. Maybe another example could be a matchmaker saying, "I've made a couple of Jessica and Ryan." – Chester Nov 16 '18 at 11:58
There is nothing ungrammatical about a couple of wine and cheese in the right context. But it would sound confusing. Better would be would be wine and cheese are a good couple. The problem with couple of, barring a specific context that would indicate otherwise, is that it's associated with a quantity rather than a pairing. – Jason Bassford Nov 16 '18 at 19:42
The main meaning and its etymology refer literally to two related persons or things. By extension a couple is used to mean “a few”, so more than two:
late 13c., "two of the same kind or class connected or considered together," especially "a man and a woman associated together by marriage or love," from Old French cople "married couple, lovers" (12c., Modern French couple), from Latin copula "tie, connection," from PIE *ko-ap-, from *ko(m)- "together" + *ap- "to take, reach." (Etymonline)
more than two, but not many, of; a small number of; a few:
user 66974
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Two train carriages are (individually) coupled together!
JonTout
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This is not an answer to the question. – RedSonja Nov 16 '18 at 12:54
It seems to have come from Latin where it meant "a bond", via Old French ("a pair"). In modern French we also have the vague meaning of "a few" so this is perhaps where/when the idiom came into English. The Latin doesn't seem to suggest any particular number, so could be used for a group of things somehow associated with ("bonded with") one another.
Doris N Cub
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Can you add a reference? – Ddddan Nov 16 '18 at 17:18
Couple can mean both specifically 2 or a small number (generally not much more than 2, but with no clear upper limit).
The idiom "a couple of" inherits this ambiguity, but it is more often using couple in the vaguer sense, so unless context suggested otherwise, it would generally be interpreted as meaning "a small number of".
Furthermore, it seems as though, 'I've made a couple of wine and cheese' is a perfectly fine sentence.
Even when used in its vaguer sense, it is still only used with countable senses for the noun phrase. Since "wine and cheese" isn't countable, it doesn't work, but you could have a couple of wines (a few different types of wine) or a couple of bottles of wine, and a couple of cheeses (a few different types of cheese).
Jon Hanna
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ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
few - a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by `a'; a small but indefinite number; "a few weeks ago"; "a few more wagons than usual"; "an invalid's pleasures are few and far between"; "few roses were still blooming"; "few women have led troops in battle"
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I am so hungry, and it will go badly with me in the future, for I see here not an apple or pear or fruit of any kind--nothing but vegetables everywhere.' At last he thought, 'At a pinch I can eat a salad; it does not taste particularly nice, but it will refresh me.' So he looked about for a good head and ate it, but no sooner had he swallowed a couple of mouthfuls than he felt very strange, and found himself wonderfully changed.
When he had wandered about for a couple of days he found it quite easily.
Weller stepped slowly to the door, as if he expected something more; slowly opened it, slowly stepped out, and had slowly closed it within a couple of inches, when Mr.
A couple of candles were burning in the little front parlour, and a couple of caps were reflected on the window-blind.
Here I found some young onions, a couple of gladiolus bulbs, and a quantity of immature carrots, all of which I secured, and, scrambling over a ruined wall, went on my way through scarlet and crimson trees towards Kew-- it was like walking through an avenue of gigantic blood drops--possessed with two ideas: to get more food, and to limp, as soon and as far as my strength permitted, out of this accursed unearthly region of the pit.
I hunted for food among the trees, finding nothing, and I also raided a couple of silent houses, but they had already been broken into and ransacked.
He said it was a sight better than lying tied a couple of years every day, and trembling all over every time there was a sound.
There was a big steamboat lay- ing at the shore away up under the point, about three mile above the town -- been there a couple of hours, taking on freight.
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