dove
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//dəʊv//
- United States//doʊv//
- //dʌv//
- //dʊv//
A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae.
noun
- 1
A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae.
Dove's brains have been prepared by chefs for amorous expectations.
- 2
A person favouring conciliation and negotiation rather than conflict.
On the left are the activist Vietniks, eager to protest the war; next are the doves, who oppose the U.S. role but shun demonstrations; and in the middle are the apathetics, who simply are not concerned enough to think through their own stand.
- 3
A term of endearment for one regarded as pure and gentle.
O my dove, […] let me hear thy voice.
- 4
A greyish, bluish, pinkish colour like that of the bird.
- 5
Variant of love doveslangEllipsis of love dove (“a tablet of the drug ecstasy”).
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-der.? Proto-Germanic *dūbaną? Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ Proto-West Germanic *dūbā Old English *dūfe Middle English douve English dove From Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūbā, from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove, pigeon”). Cognate with Scots doo, dow, Saterland Frisian Duuwe, West Frisian do, Dutch duif, Afrikaans duif, Sranan Tongo doifi, German Taube, German Low German Duuv, Dutch Low Saxon duve, doeve, Danish due, Faroese dúgva, Icelandic dúfa, Norwegian Bokmål due, Norwegian Nynorsk due, Swedish duva, Yiddish טויב (toyb), Gothic *𐌳𐌿𐌱𐍉 (*dubō).
verb
- 1
Also a form of divesimple past of dive
2007: Bob Harris, Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide, §: Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d’Ivoire, page 80, ¶ 4 (first edition; Three Rivers Press; →ISBN When coffee and cocoa prices unexpectedly dove, Côte d’Ivoire quickly went from Africa’s rich kid to crippling debtitude.
- 2
Also a form of divepast participle of dive
Etymology
A modern formation of the strong conjugation, by analogy with drive → drove and weave → wove.
Forms
- plural
- doves
dove · A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three…
Dove · A river in England, forming the boundary between Derbyshire…Dover · A town, civil parish (with a town council) and major port in…down · From a higher position to a lower one; downwards.