couch potato
Someone who habitually engages in sedentary activities, usually understood as frequently watching television. Lisa wants to date a man who loves to travel and explore, not a couch potato who watches television all the time. I'm not letting you kids turn into couch potato this summer. Now put on your shoes, and let's go for a hike! This week seriously wore me out, that's why I've been nothing but a couch potato all weekend!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
couch potato
a lazy individual, addicted to television-watching. All he ever does is watch TV; he's become a real couch potato. Couch potatoes can tend to become very fat and unhealthy, you know.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
a couch potato
INFORMALCOMMON If someone is a couch potato, they are lazy and spend most of their time sitting, watching television. Most evenings they sit, like a pair of couch potatoes in front of television. Most of these people are junk-food eating couch potatoes. Note: This expression is a complicated pun based on the American slang term `boob tube' meaning the TV, and the fact that a potato is a variety of tuber or root vegetable.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
couch potato
someone who watches a lot of television, eats junk food, and takes little or no physical exercise. informal Couch potato was a humorous American coinage using the image of a person with the physical shape of a potato slouching on a sofa or couch. Originally, the phrase relied on a pun with tuber in the slang term boob tuber , which referred to someone devoted to watching the boob tube or television.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
a ˈcouch poˌtato
(informal, disapproving) a person who spends a lot of time sitting and watching televisionFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
couch potato
n. a lazy, do-nothing television watcher. (see also
sofa spud.)
If there was a prize for the best couch potato, my husband would win it. McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
couch potato
A physically lazy individual who prefers watching television to other leisure activities. This slangy expression, alluding to an inert object (potato) sitting on a sofa, was invented in the 1970s and quickly gained currency. It also has been suggested that the term is a play on boob tube (slang for television set), since a potato is a tuber. With the proliferation of remote-control devices, the dedicated television addict did not even need to get up to change programs or adjust the volume. The cliché is occasionally used more broadly as well, for anyone who is basically indolent.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer