heraldry, is used to express the head, or any limb, of an animal, cut off from the trunk, smooth; distinguishing it from that which is called craved, that is, forcibly torn off, and therefore is ragged and uneven.

Couped, is also used to signify such crosses, bars, bends, chevrons, &c. as do not touch the sides of the escutcheon, but are, as it were, cut off from them.

Couple-cloak, in heraldry, the fourth part of a chevron, never borne but in pairs, except there be a chevron between them, says Guillim, though Bloom gives an instance to the contrary.