Definition of "couching" [couch•ing]

• Present participle of couch. (verb)
• The operation of putting down or displacing the opaque lens in cataract. (noun)
• Embroidering by laying the materials upon the surface of the foundation, instead of drawing them through. (noun)

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• "_ -- These used to be extensively practised under the name couching, and are of two kinds, -- _Depression_, where the lens is simply pushed down from its place by a needle; _Reclination_, in which it is shoved backwards (turning on its transverse axis) as well as downwards."
• "Laid work might be described as couching on a more extended scale -- a given space is covered with threads taken from side to side in parallel lines close together, fixed at either extremity by entering the material."
• "All drapery carried out in this stitch is worked in somewhat the same fashion, that is, the couching running to and fro between the lines marks each fold as roughly shown at fig. 131."