# cove
## English
### Pronunciation

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

### Etymology 1

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 English cave. Also unrelated to Spanish cueva, which itself is a cognate of 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; bight. [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:secret coves and noukes
** 2014, Robert Kelly, Chung Wah Chow, “Taiwan's Islands”, in Taiwan‎, 9th edition, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 307, column 2:There are several excellent snorkelling spots in the shallow coves around Chimei, and one-day tours (NT$1100 to NT$1300, including transport and food) can be arranged beforehand by your hotel or home-stay.
* (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.]
* (Appalachia) A valley between two ridges, especially one that, opening to the south and east, is protected by ridges on the north and west from common winter storm tracks.
    Coordinate terms: hollow, draft
** 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

* covelet
* covelike
* cove molding
* Covian
* Covina
* East Cove Port
* Glen Cove
* Green Cove Springs
* Lane Cove
* Lulworth Cove
* shallow cove
* 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
* 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
* Olds 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
* 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
#### 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)
* (British, dated, informal, thieves' cant, Lewis) 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: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

* (antonym(s) of “man”): covess, mort, blone (specific antonyms)
* (antonym(s) of “man”): See Thesaurus:woman (general antonyms)
* (antonym(s) of “friend”): See Thesaurus:enemy

##### Derived terms

* 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
* nib-cove
* nubbing cove
* pater cove
* queer cove
* rum cove
* smacking cove
* topping cove
* wapping cove

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

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

#### Verb

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

* couve (obsolete)

### References

* ↑ “† couve | cove, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

### Anagrams

* Voce

## Catalan
### Alternative forms

* covo (Northern, Mallorca, Menorca)

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [ˈkɔ.βə]
* IPA: (Balearic) [ˈkɔ.və]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈkɔ.ve]

### Noun

cove m (plural coves or còvens)
* a large basket

#### Derived terms

* a coves
* covenada

### Further reading

* “cove”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈko.ve/
* Rhymes: -ove
* Hyphenation: có‧ve

### Noun

cove f
* plural of cova

### Anagrams

* voce