casting couch

noun

Updated on: 2 Apr 2018

Definition of casting couch

: a couch in an entertainment executive's office on which aspiring actresses are reputed to perform sexual acts in exchange for desired roles; broadly : the practice of abusing one's power to obtain sexual partners

Recent Examples of casting couch from the Web

In 2017, Ben Zimmer analyzed the origins of the phrase casting couch in an article for The Atlantic.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "Stormy Daniels's Oh-So-Familiar Story," 26 Mar. 2018
Over three years ago, a woman was on the radio saying that Halle Berry’s manager was her worst casting couch experience ever.

— Essence.com, "Taraji P. Henson ‘Shocked’ And ‘Disappointed’ After Sexual Harassment Claims Against Manager Surface," 6 Feb. 2018
But, of note in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Krefft concludes that Fox was never unfaithful to his wife, Eva, while his rival studio lords — Jack Warner and Louis B. Mayer — philandered infamously on their casting couches.

— matt damsker, USA TODAY, "New bio: Remembering William Fox, the flawed genius behind 20th Century Fox," 26 Dec. 2017
On 2016’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, country singer Price detailed Nashville casting couch sleaziness.

— dan deluca, Philly.com, "Best songs of 2017: Lana Del Rey to Lorde to Lil Uzi Vert," 7 Dec. 2017
The evil behavior of Harvey Weinstein, in other words, goes far beyond the Hollywood casting couch.

— heather wilhelm, National Review, "Where #MeToo Goes Off the Rails," 20 Oct. 2017
There’s even a cozy euphemism: the casting couch, a metaphor that observers say has helped to normalize the practice and blur the lines of responsibility and blame in a way that promotes silence.

— noelle swan, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Casting couch' or 'crime scene'? Hollywood's culture of sexual harassment," 18 Oct. 2017
The phrase casting couch became linked to the Shuberts, at least in retrospect, as the etymologist Peter Tamony discovered.

— ben zimmer, The Atlantic, "'Casting Couch': The Origins of a Pernicious Hollywood Cliché," 16 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'casting couch.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of casting couch

1931

in the meaning defined above

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