Crossword clues for couth
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Couth \Couth\ (k??th), imp. & p. p. of Can. [See Can, and cf. Uncouth.] Could; was able; knew or known; understood. [Obs.]
Above all other one Daniel
He loveth, for he couth well
Divine, that none other couth;
To him were all things couth,
As he had it of God's grace.
--Gower.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Old English cuðe "known," past participle of cunnan (see can (v.1)), from Proto-Germanic *kunthaz (cognates: Old Frisian kuth "known," Old Saxon cuth, Old High German kund, German kund, Gothic kunþs "known").\n
\nDied out as such 16c. with the emergence of could, but the old word was reborn 1896, with a new sense of "cultured, refined," as a back-formation from uncouth (q.v.). The Old English word forms the first element in the man's proper name Cuthbert, literally "famous-bright."
Wiktionary
Etymology 1
(context obsolete English) known, renowned v
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(context obsolete except in adjective use English) (past participle of can English) Etymology 2
a. Marked by or possessing a high degree of sophistication; cultured, refined. n. Social grace, sophistication; manners; refinement.
WordNet
adj. used facetiously
Usage examples of "couth".
Later, for some reason I was never told, they changed the name to Ruly, Kempt, Sheveled and Couth, and then to Weery, Stale, Flatt and Profitable, and to keep up the front they actually did hire a couple of lawyers and did some real law work for a corporation called Blue Sky, Inc.
Bot the burde hym blessed, and "Bi this skyl" sayde: "So god as Gawayn gaynly is halden, And cortaysye is closed so clene in hymseluen, Couth not ly3tly haf lenged so long wyth a lady, Bot he had craued a cosse, bi his courtaysye, Bi sum towch of summe tryfle at sum tale3 ende.
Then his thoughts shot toward one Fafhrd, a largely couth and most romantical barbarian, the soles of whose feet and mind were nonetheless firmly set in fact, particularly when he was either very sober, or very drunk, and toward this one's lifelong comrade, the Gray Mouser, perhaps the cleverest and wittiest thief in all Nehwon and certainly the one with either the bonniest or bitterest self-conceit.
The Mephitis mephitis (also called polecat, zorrino, and, by the less couth, wood pussy) was frightened by the jabs to its hindquarters.