covey
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: kŭvʹē
ipa: /ˈkʌvi/
rhymes: -ʌvi
Forms: form: coveys
form: coveying
form: coveyed
form: coveyed
form: covie
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English covei, covey (“brood of partridges, covey; volley of shot; kind of gun”) [and other forms], from Old French covée (“brood (of chickens), clutch”) (modern French couvée), a noun use of the feminine past participle of cover (“to brood (an egg)”) (modern French couver), 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”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
French couvée (“brood (of chickens), clutch”), couver (“to brood (an egg)”)
Italian covata (“brood, clutch, covey, hatch”), covare (“to brood or incubate (an egg)”)
Senses: examples: text: Our fortunes and our ſelves, are things ſo cloſely linked, that vve knovv not vvhich is the cauſe of the love that vve finde, vvhen theſe tvvo ſhall part, vve may then diſcover to vvhich of them affection vvill make vvinge; vvhen they are covied together vve knovv not vvhich is in purſuit; vvhen they riſe and breake, vve ſhall then ſee vvhich is aimed at.
ref: 1649, Edw[ard] Burton, “Of the Triall of Faith and Friendship”, in The Fathers Legacy: Or Burtons Collections. […], London: […] John Clowes, for Mathew Walbancke […], →OCLC, page 117:
text: O'er many a vvinding dale and painful ſteep, / Th' abodes of coveyed grouſe and timid ſheep, / My ſavage journey, curious, I purſue, / Till fam'd Breadalbaine opens on my view.— […]
ref: 1793, Robert Burns, “Written with a Pencil over the Chimney-piece, in the Parlour of the Inn at Kenmore, Taymouth”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, page 238:
text: The lapwing's covied tribes forsake / The fens, to seek the glassy lake.
ref: 1832 January, Charles May, “Sonnets. Day-break on the Scotch Coast.”, in The Pocket Magazine, volume I, London: James Robins & Co. […], →OCLC, sonnet no. I, page 252:
text: There are immense quantities of wild ducks on the rivers, but they are shy, and it is difficult to approach near enough to shoot them. There is a duck called the raft duck, because it is so numerous, coveying together in "whole rafts."
ref: 1869, J[ohn] S[ullivan] Adams, quoting The New York World, “Florida”, in Florida: Its Climate, Soil, and Productions, […], Jacksonville, Fla.: […] Edw[ar]d M. Cheney, […], →OCLC, page 108:
text: No sooner had I spoken than a covey of perhaps twenty birds flushed wild ahead of us and disappeared into the pine woods. They were not coveyed up, but were scattered out over 100 yards, feeding.
ref: 1977 November, Pete McLain, “Your Great Outdoors—Northeast: Hunting Northern Bobwhite Quail”, in Field & Stream, volume LXXXII, number 7, New York, N.Y.: CBS Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 89, columns 2–3:
glosses: To gather into a group.
Derived terms: english: of a bird or other animal: to brood, cover, incubate, or sit over (eggs)
translation: of a bird or other animal: to brood, cover, incubate, or sit over (eggs)
word: covie