cove
nounverbnounverbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//kəʊv//
- United Kingdom//kɐʉv//
- United States//koʊv//
- Australia//kəʉv//
- Scotland//kov//
A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
noun
- 1
A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
- 2
A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.
- 3
A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds; bight.
secret coves and noukes
There are several excellent snorkelling spots in the shallow coves around Chimei, and one-day tours (NT$1100 to NT$1300, including transport and food) can be arranged beforehand by your hotel or home-stay.
- 4
A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
- 5
A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.
- 6
The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.
- 7
A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.
- 8
A valley between two ridges, especially one that, opening to the south and east, is protected by ridges on the north and west from common winter storm tracks.
They were, despite their ignorance, unavoidably prosperous since their farm occupied a wide piece of cove bottom with dirt so black and rich it would raise sweet potatoes as long as your arm[.]
Etymology
From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic *kobō, from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with Dutch koof (“cove”), German Low German Koov (“small room”), German Koben (“nook, shed”), Icelandic kofi (“hut, shack”). This word has probably survived as long as it has due to its coincidental phonetic resemblance to the unrelated word English cave. Also unrelated to Spanish cueva, which itself is a cognate of cave.
verb
- 1
To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.
The mosques and other buildings of the Arabians are rounded into domes and coved roofs.
noun
- 1
datedMan; fellow.
Don't call Major Pendennis an old cove, if you'll 'ave the goodness, Lightfoot, and don't call me an old cove, nether. Such words ain't used in society; and we have lived in the fust society, both at 'ome and foring.
He was lying back in an arm-chair with his mouth open and a sort of goofy expression in his eyes, while a grey-bearded cove in the middle distance watched him with so much dislike that I concluded that Bingo had pinched his favourite seat.
At one point, a friendly-looking sort of cove with silver hair and a grandfatherly kind of face beamed at him […]
- 2
Friend; mate.
Etymology
Attested in Britain a. 1570, from Romani kodo (“this one, him”, pronounced KOTHO /koðo/, ultimately undergoing th-fronting to KOV /kov/ in English), or perhaps directly from Romani kova (“that person”).
verb
- 1
obsoleteOf a bird or other animal: to brood, cover, incubate, or sit over (eggs).
Etymology
Borrowed from French couver, from Old French cover (“to hatch (eggs)”), from Latin cubāre (“to lie down, recline; to incubate; to be broody”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- (“to lie down”). Cognates * Italian covare
Forms
- plural
- coves
- past tense
- coved
- past participle
- coved
- present participle
- coving
- third person singular
- coves
cove · A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
Cove · A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated…coven · A nunnery, a convent.Coven · A village in Brewood and Coven parish, South Staffordshire…