cover-up

• coverup

From the verb cover up.

• Audio (US):

  (file)

cover-up (plural cover-ups)

1. An attempt to conceal or disguise something, especially a wrongdoing or a mistake.
   • 1999, Mona the Vampire, "Jurassic Parking Lot" (season 1, episode 3b):

     Mona: Oh, of course, a cover-up! You know, the whole town would panic if they knew a misunderstood Frankensteinosaurus was on a bloodthirsty rampage! Your secret's safe, Officer. I don't want to cause an international panic any more than you do.

   • 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America‎, volume 182, number 21:

     These divine qualities migrated to Mary because of deficiencies in the theology of God, in Christology and in pneumatology. It makes no lasting sense to retain this as a permanent status quo, using Mary as a cover-up for defective notions of the divine.

   Truthfulness means no lies and no cover-ups. Compassion means being kind and helpful to others. Forbearance means being able to tolerate and suffer, and not fight back.

2. An item of clothing to be worn over a swimsuit while not in the water.
   • 2013, Velvet Carter, Blissfully Yours, page 93:

     The women usually wore bikini tops with shorts, swimsuits underneath cover-ups or just swimsuits. Men came in various types of trunks, from traditional boxers, to Speedos, to G-string trunks that showcased their packages.

• cover-up on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• overcup