SOFA  , a

long couch with stuffed back, arms and seat, to hold two or more persons . The word is of Arabic origin, and is an adaptation of suffah, couch, from root saffa—to draw up in line . According to Richardson, Diet. of Eng . Lang. quoted by Skeat, the Arabic suffah was particularly a reclining place of wood or stone placed before the doors of Oriental houses . In the history of furniture the sofa was a development of the straight backed settee . It was not so much therefore a long chair or combination of chairs, as a seat or couch for reclining . The early 19th-century type had a back with a single arm at one end, the other being left open . The most favoured modern form is that known as the Chesterfield, with double arms and back, heavily padded .