cove

See also: Cove

English

Pronunciation

enPR: kōv
- (General American) IPA^(key): /koʊv/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəʊv/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -əʊv
Homophone: Cobh

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 resemblence to the unrelated word "cave".

Noun

cove (plural coves)

(now uncommon) A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern. [from 9th c.]
(architecture) A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling. [from 16th c.]
A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds. [from 16th c.]
- 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], OCLC 12997447:
  secret coves and noukes
(US) A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain. [from 19th c.]
(nautical) The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship. [from 19th c.]
(nautical) A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level. [from 19th c.]

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

cove molding
Green Cove Springs

in toponyms of New Brunswick

Belyeas Cove
Big Cove
Crafts Cove
Drurys Cove
Erbs Cove
Flowers Cove
Gooseberry Cove
Iron Bound Cove
Lower Cove
Mill Cove
Porter Cove
Sypher Cove
Tennants Cove
Whites Cove
Youngs Cove

in toponyms of Newfoundland

Abraham's Cove
Adam's Cove
Admiral's Cove
Angels Cove
Arnold's Cove
Aspen Cove
Bear Cove
Birchy Cove
Bird Cove
Bishop's Cove
Black Duck Cove
Boyd's Cove
Bradley's Cove
Brent's Cove
Broad Cove
Bryant's Cove
Bunyan's Cove
Burgoynes Cove
Burnt Cove
Canning's Cove
Caplin Cove
Carter's Cove
Chance Cove
Chapel's Cove
Coachman's Cove
Comfort Cove
Coomb's Cove
Cottrell's Cove
Cox's Cove
Daniel's Cove
Diamond Cove
Felix Cove
Flower's Cove
Fox Cove
Frenchman's Cove
Garden Cove
Gooseberry Cove
Grates Cove
Hatchet Cove
Hibb's Cove
Hodges Cove
Indian Cove
Ivany's Cove
Jackson's Cove
Jemmy's Cove
Job's Cove
King's Cove
Knights Cove
Ladle Cove
Lance Cove
Langdon's Cove
Lead Cove
Lewin's Cove
Long Cove
Lord's Cove
Lower Cove
Lower Island Cove
Maddox Cove
Middle Cove
Miles Cove
Nameless Cove
Newman's Cove
Noggin Cove
Norman's Cove
Ochre Pit Cove
Outer Cove
Parker's Cove
Patrick's Cove
Perry's Cove
Pidgeon Cove
Pool's Cove
Portugal Cove
Pouch Cove
Queens Cove
Red Head Cove
Sally's Cove
Salmon Cove
Sandy Cove
Seal Cove
Sheaves Cove
Ship Cove
Shoal Cove
Sibley's Cove
Spillars Cove
St. Joseph's Cove
Stock Cove
Swells Cove
Three Rock Cove
Tilt Cove
Tors Cove
Trinny Cove
Turks Cove
Upper Amherst Cove
Upper Island Cove
Wild Cove

in toponyms of Nova Scotia

Auld's Cove
Ballantynes Cove
Bear Cove
Beaver Cove
Belliveaus Cove
Broad Cove
Charlos Cove
Debales Cove
Deep Cove
Delaps Cove
Doctors Cove
Duncans Cove
Fergusons Cove
French Cove
Gilberts Cove
Gullivers Cove
Gunning Cove
Hacketts Cove
Halfway Cove
Harrigan Cove
Hay Cove
Herring Cove
Irish Cove
Johns Cove
Kelleys Cove
Livingstone Cove
Maders Cove
Malignant Cove
Marriotts Cove
McNabs Cove
Meat Cove
Mill Cove
Mink Cove
Murphy Cove
Northwest Cove
Parkers Cove
Phinneys Cove
Pipers Cove
Portuguese Cove
Samsons Cove
Sandy Cove
Smiths Cove
Soldiers Cove
Southwest Cove
St. Croix Cove
Voglers Cove
Youngs Cove

Translations

rare: hollow in a rock

French: grotte (fr) f, caverne (fr) f
Greek: σπήλαιο (el) (spílaio)
Romanian: grotă (ro) f

architecture: concave vault

Bulgarian: свод m (svod)
French: arcade (fr) f, voûte (fr) f
Greek: θόλος (el) m (thólos)

small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds

Basque: senaia
Bulgarian: заливче (bg) n (zalivče)
Catalan: cala (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 小海湾
Dutch: inham (nl) m
Esperanto: golfeto
Finnish: poukama (fi), lahti (fi)
French: crique (fr) f, anse (fr) f
German: Bucht (de) f, Steilküstenbucht f
Greek: όρμος (el) (órmos)
Hungarian: öböl (hu)
Irish: cuainín m
Italian: calanca (it) f, insenatura (it) f
Japanese: 入り江 (irie)
Maori: kokoru, kokori, matatikerewhanga
Occitan: calanca (oc) f
Plautdietsch: Bucht f
Polish: zatoczka (pl) f
Portuguese: enseada (pt)
Romanian: golf (ro)
Russian: бу́хточка (ru) f (búxtočka) (среди скал)
Serbo-Croatian: uvala (sh) f
Spanish: ensenada (es)
Welsh: cildraeth m

recess on slope of mountain

wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship

thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht’s strake below deck level

Verb

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

(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)

(Britain, dated, informal, thieves' cant) A fellow; a man.
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 61, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, OCLC 2057953:
  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 […]
(Australia and Polari) A friend; a mate.

Synonyms

(man): See Thesaurus:man
(friend): See Thesaurus:friend

Antonyms

(man): covess, mort (specific antonyms)
(man): See Thesaurus:woman (general antonyms)
(friend): See Thesaurus:enemy

Derived terms

Terms derived from cove

Abram cove
autem cove
badge-cove
bang-up cove
bene cove
covess
covey
cross cove
diddle cove
dimber cove
dookin cove
downy cove
flash cove
flogging cove
gentry cove
kinchin cove
narry cove
nib cove
nubbing cove
queer cove
rum cove
smacking cove
topping cove
wapping cove

Translations

fellow; man

Chinese:
Mandarin: 小伙子 (zh)
Dutch: kerel (nl) m
Finnish: kaveri (fi), heppu (fi)
Hebrew: מפרצון‎ (he) m
Hungarian: szerzet (slang), fazon (hu) (slang)

friend; mate

Dutch: maat (nl) m
Finnish: kaveri (fi), heppu (fi)
Hungarian: haver (hu)

Etymology 3

Compare French couver, Italian covare. See covey.

Verb

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

To brood, cover, or sit over, as birds their eggs.
- 1603, Plutarch, “Whether Creatvres 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 1051546006, page 976:
  Moreover, the provident care of the tortoiſe in the generation, nouriſhment and preſervation of [h]er yooung, is woonderfull: for out ſhe goeth of the ſea, and laieth her egges or caſteth her ſpawne 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 beſtoweth them in the gravell, and afterwards covereth them with the lighteſt and fineſt ſand ſhe can get: […]

Anagrams

Voce

Catalan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

(Balearic) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.və/

(Central) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.bə/

(Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.ve/

Noun

cove m (plural coves)

A large basket

Italian

Pronunciation

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

Noun

cove f

plural of cova

Anagrams

voce