cove

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See also: Cove

English

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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Coved vault ceiling, Alhambra (Spain)
Cadgwith cove, Cornwall (United Kingdom)

From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic *kobō, from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with German Koben, Swedish kova. This word has probably survived as long as it has due to its coincidental phonetic resemblance to the unrelated word "cave".

Noun

cove (plural coves)

  1. (now uncommon) A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
  2. (architecture) 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.
  4. (US) A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
  5. A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.
  6. (nautical) The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.
  7. (nautical) A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.
  8. (Appalachia) A valley between two ridges.
    • 1997, Charles Frazier, chapter 2, in Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 53:
      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[.]
Derived terms
in toponyms of New Brunswick
in toponyms of Newfoundland
in toponyms of Nova Scotia
Translations

Verb

cove (third-person singular simple present coves, present participle coving, simple past and past participle coved)

  1. (architecture) To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.
    • 1779, Henry Swinburne, Travels through Spain:
      The mosques and other buildings of the Arabians are rounded into domes and coved roofs.

Etymology 2

Britain ante-1570. From Romani kodo (“this one, him”), perhaps change in consonants due to lower class th-fronting, or Romani kova (“that person”).

Noun

cove (plural coves)

  1. (British, dated, informal, thieves' cant, Lewis) A fellow; a man.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 61, in The History of Pendennis. , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 2012, Terry Pratchett, Dodger, →ISBN, page 326:
      At one point, a friendly-looking sort of cove with silver hair and a grandfatherly kind of face beamed at him […]
  2. (Australia and Polari) A friend; a mate.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from French couver and Old French cover (“to hatch (eggs)”), from Latin cubāre, the present active infinitive of cubō (“to lie down, recline; to incubate; to be broody”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- (“to lie down”).

cognates

Verb

cove (third-person singular simple present coves, present participle coving, simple past and past participle coved)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) Of a bird or other animal: to brood, cover, incubate, or sit over (eggs).
    Synonym: covie
    • 1603, Plutarch, “Whether Creatures be more Wise, They of the Land, or Those of the Water”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals , London: Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 976:
      Moreover, the provident care of the tortoiſe in the generation, nouriſhment and preſervation of [h]er yooung, is vvoonderfull: for out ſhe goeth of the ſea, and laieth her egges or caſteth her ſpavvne upon the banke ſide; but being not able to cove or ſit upon them, nor to remaine herſelfe upon the land out of the ſea any long time, ſhe beſtovveth them in the gravell, and aftervvards covereth them vvith the lighteſt and fineſt ſand ſhe can get: […]
Alternative forms

References

  1. ^ “† couve | cove, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

Anagrams

Catalan

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Latin cophinus, from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “basket”).

Pronunciation

Noun

cove m (plural coves)

  1. a large basket

Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈko.ve/
  • Rhymes: -ove
  • Hyphenation: có‧ve

Noun

cove f

  1. plural of cova

Anagrams

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