couch in

The Temple of the Golden Pavilionを読んでいます。
I wrote my mother clearly that she should not come to visit me again until I had attainted my independence. I had already told her this verbally, but I did not feel that I could rest easy until I had committed it to writing in the strongest terms. Her answer was couched in awkward phrases. She told me about how hard she was working at Uncle's farm and followed this by a few sentences that smacked the following sentence: "I don't want to die until I have seen you with my own eyes as a priest in the Golden Temple."
上の文に出てきた "couch" は既に２度（6/3/2013、4/11/2011）も取り上げていますが、意味を忘れています。
不思議な事に、上の様に受動態で使われるだけではなく能動態でも使われる例が辞書に出ているのでその２例を引用します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (usually be couched in) Express (something) in language of a specified style: many false claims are couched in scientific jargon
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to express something in carefully chosen or deceptive words. He tended to couch his explanations in arcane vocabulary. She couched her words in an overly polite manner.