covey
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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)”)
Inflected forms:
form: covies
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: coveys
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: covie
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: coveys
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: coveying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: coveyed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: coveyed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: covie
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A brood or family of partridges (family Phasianidae), which includes game birds such as grouse (tribe Tetraonini) and ptarmigans (tribe Tetraonini, genus Lagopus).
pos: noun
examples: But, loa, with a ſuddeyn fluſhing thee galligut Harpeys / From mountayns flitter, with gaggling whirlerye flapping / Their wings: […] This coouie rauenouſe, and ſwift with a deſperat onſet, / They gripte in tallants the meat, and foorth ſpourged a ſtincking / Foule carrayne fauoure: […]
[S]o leacherous they [female partridges] are, that ſetting aſide the naturall affection and love to their young covie, vvhen they are broodie, […] yet if they hear once the Foulers chanterell comming tovvard the male, and that he doth call, preſently they vvill leave the neſt and ſuffer the egs to chill, and for very jealouſie crie again and call back the males, and offer themſelves to be troden, for feare they vvould goe to others. […] And all this doth ſhe to amuſe the Fouler after her, untill ſhe have trained him a contrarie vvay from the covey. Novv by that time that ſhee is paſt that feare, and freed of the motherly care ſhe had of her young ones, than vvill ſhee get into the furrovv of ſome land, lie along her backe, catch a clot of earth up vvith her feet, and therevvith hide her vvhole bodie, and ſo have both her ſelfe and her couvey.
[A]s for the partridges vvhen they be laid for by the fovvler, together vvith their covin of young birds, they ſuffer them to flie avvay as vvell as they can, and make ſhift to ſave themſelves, but the old rovvens full ſubtilly ſeeme to vvait the comming of the ſaid hunters, abiding untill they approch neere unto them, and by keeping about their feet, traine them ſtill avvay after them, ready ever as it vvere to be caught; […] thus they play mock-holiday vvith the fovvlers, and yet vvith ſome danger to themſelves for the ſafetie of their young, untill they have trained them a great vvay off, vvho ſought for their lives.
See hovv the vvell-taught pointer leads the vvay: / The ſcent grovvs vvarm; he ſtops; he ſprings the prey; / The flutt'ring coveys from the ſtubble riſe, / And on ſvvift vving divide the ſounding ſkies; […]
"Fine shooting," again muttered Lord Merton; "and if I knew Lord Etheringhame, he might ask me to shoot over his grounds." Campbell talks of the magic of a name—yes, if the name be partridges. "Well, Adelaide; but how do you mean to contrive it?" […] A lingering hope of the covies gave unusual animation to her brother's manner, when he hoped their acquaintance was only begun: […]
gloss: A group of other birds, such as quail (superfamily Phasianoidea).
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: Like when you quail huntin' and it's getting dark and you can hear the boss bird whistlin' tryin' to get the covey together again, and he's coming toward you slow and whistlin' soft, cause he knows you somewhere around with your gun.
No sooner had I spoken than a covey of perhaps twenty birds flushed wild ahead of us and disappeared into the pine woods. […] Just the slamming of a car door, too much talking, or a fast-moving dog will cause a covey to flush well out of gun range.
gloss: A group or party of people; also, a group or set of things.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
figuratively
examples: [T]here is not a better Spanniell in England to spring a couie of queanes than Martin.
VVho are they in the corner? As I live, / A covey of Fidlers; I ſhall have ſome muſicke yet […]
I never did ſpring ſuch a Covye of Mathematicians all at once, as I met vvith at this time, Cervinus or Hart, Cure, John Stacy and Blach, all bred in Merton Colledge.
The whole covey of victims was thus netted; the household ruin was thus full and orbicular; and in that proportion the tendency of men and women, flutter as they might, would be helplessly and hopelessly to sink into the all-conquering hands of the mighty murderer.
Maria, still fondly lingering by Harry's chair, with her hand at the back of it, could see his cards, and that a whole covey of trumps was ranged in one corner.
The store is on a corner about which coveys of ragged-plumed, hilarious children play and become candidates for the cough drops and soothing syrups that wait for them inside.
When I first started working out of Geneva, I was sent to Cambodia to sell mutual funds to Americans employed on a dam being built by Morrison-Knudsen of Idaho, and in my spare time I hung around the Bijou Hotel in Phnom Penh, where a covey of American newspapermen had assembled to report on Cambodia's independence from France.
A covey of grey soldiers clanked down the platform at the double with their equipment and embarked, but in absolute silence, which seemed to them very singular.
gloss: To gather into a group.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
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.— […]
The lapwing's covied tribes forsake / The fens, to seek the glassy lake.
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."
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.
Related words: cove
Translations: