Etymology : Middle English, den, from Old English cofa; akin to Old High German chubisi hut
Pronunciation : 'kOv
Function : noun
Date : before 12th century
1. small bay, inlet; chap, fellow (Slang). make with an inward curve; arch over; have a cove, design or build a wall with a cove. cove\cove\, v. t. [cf. f. couver, it. covare. see:
covey.] to brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [obs.] not being able to cove or sit upon them [eggs], she [the female tortoise] bestoweth them in the gravel.cove \cove\, n. [a gypsy word, covo that man, covi that woman.] a boy or man of any age or station. [slang] there's a gentry cove here. now, look to it, coves, that all the beef and drink be not filched from us. browning. [cove \cove\ (kōv), n. [as. cofa room; akin to g. koben pigsty, orig., hut, icel. kofi hut, and perh. to e. cobalt.].
2. a retired nook; especially, a small, sheltered inlet, creek, or bay; a recess in the shore. vessels which were in readiness for him within secret coves and nooks.
3. a strip of prairie extending into woodland; also, a recess in the side of a mountain. [u.s.].
4. (arch.) (a) a concave molding. (b) a member, whose section is a concave curve, used especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as around a skylight.cove \cove\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. coved (k?vd); p. pr. & vb. n. coving.] (arch.) 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. swinburne.
5. A retired nook; especially, a small, sheltered inlet, creek, or bay; a recess in the shore.
6. A strip of prairie extending into woodland; also, a recess in the side of a mountain.
7. A concave molding.
8. A member, whose section is a concave curve, used especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as around a skylight.
9. To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.
10. To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs.
11. A boy or man of any age or station. a small inlet small or narrow cave in the side of a cliff or mountain.
12. A cove is a part of a coast where the land curves inwards so that the sea is partly enclosed. a hillside overlooking Fairview Cove. A fellow; a man.