Literal translation
to bedtime!
Meaning
off to bed!
Explanation
A short formula announcing bedtime, built on the preposition à, the article la, and the noun couchado, which denotes the act or moment of going to bed, or, in some attested senses, the shelter where one spends the night. The phrase belongs to a series of Provençal formulas built on the same à la... pattern followed by an action noun, a series used to launch or close a shared activity, here the bedtime of children or of an entire household. Its use is familiar and domestic, said by a parent or by whoever is in charge of a group, carrying an affectionate tone of command. The noun couchado belongs to farming and pastoral vocabulary as much as to domestic life, a flock too having its couchado, which lends the formula a rural flavor, from a time when the rhythm of human bedtime still followed that of the animals and the farm.