coupling

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: coup=ling

CIDE DICTIONARY

coupling, n. 

•  The act of bringing or coming together; connection; sexual union.  [1913 Webster]
•  A device or contrivance which serves to couple or connect adjacent parts or objects; as, a belt coupling, which connects the ends of a belt; a car coupling, which connects the cars in a train; a shaft coupling, which connects the ends of shafts.  [1913 Webster]

Box coupling, Chain coupling. See under Box, Chain. -- Coupling box, a coupling shaped like a journal box, for clamping together the ends of two shafts, so that they may revolve together. -- Coupling pin, a pin or bolt used in coupling or joining together railroad cars, etc.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

coupling, n.
1 a a link connecting railway carriages etc. b a device for connecting parts of machinery.
2 Physics a connection between two systems, causing one to oscillate when the other does so.
3 Mus. a the arrangement of items on a gramophone record. b each such item.

THESAURUS

coupling

agglomeration, agglutination, aggregation, ankle, articulation, bond, boundary, bracketing, butt, cervix, clinch, closure, clustering, combination, communication, concatenation, concourse, concurrence, confluence, congeries, conglomeration, conjugation, conjunction, connecting link, connecting rod, connection, convergence, copulation, dovetail, elbow, embrace, gathering, gliding joint, hinge, hinged joint, hip, hookup, intercommunication, intercourse, interface, interlinking, join, joinder, joining, joint, jointure, junction, juncture, knee, knotting, knuckle, liaison, link, linkage, linking, marriage, meeting, merger, merging, miter, mortise, neck, pairing, pivot, pivot joint, rabbet, scarf, seam, shoulder, splice, stitch, suture, symbiosis, symphysis, tie, tie rod, tie-in, tie-up, toggle, toggle joint, unification, union, weld, wrist, yoking