Couchant

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Couchant \Couch"ant\ (kouch"ant), a. [F., p. pr. of coucher. See
     {Couch}, v. t.]
     1. Lying down with head erect; squatting.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Her.) Lying down with the head raised, which


        distinguishes the posture of couchant from that of
        dormant, or sleeping; -- said of a lion or other beast.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Couchant and levant} (Law), rising up and lying down; --
        said of beasts, and indicating that they have been long
        enough on land, not belonging to their owner, to lie down
        and rise up to feed, -- such time being held to include a
        day and night at the least. --Blackstone.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  couchant
       adj : lying on the stomach with head raised with legs pointed
             forward [syn: {couchant(ip)}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "couchant":
     accumbent, couche, crawling, crouched, debased, decumbent,
     depressed, draped, flat, groveling, knee-high, knocked flat,
     laid low, lolling, lounging, low, low-built, low-hung, low-level,
     low-leveled, low-lying, low-set, low-statured, lying, neap,
     procumbent, prone, prostrate, reclining, recumbent, reposing,
     resupine, runty, short, sprawled, sprawling, spread, squat,
     squatty, stooped, stumpy, supine, unelevated
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  COUCHANT. Lying down. Animals are said to have been levant and couchant, 
  when they have been upon another person's land, damage feasant, one night at 
  least. 3 Bl. Com. 9.