cove
noun
- fellow, chap; man
noun
- type of small bay or coastal inlet
- form of large standing stone group found in Neolithic and Bronze Age England
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /kəʊv/ / /koʊv/ / /kəʉv/
name
Etymology: From Sydney Cove.
- The official active supporters' group of Sydney FC (an Australian soccer club based in Sydney).
noun
Etymology: Attested in Britain a. 1570, from Romani kodo (“this one, him”, pronounced KOTHO /koðo/, ultimately undergoing th-fronting to KOV /kov/ in English), or perhaps directly from Romani kova (“that person”).
- Man; fellow.
“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.”
“He was lying back in an arm-chair with his mouth open and a sort of goofy expression in his eyes, while a grey-bearded cove in the middle distance watched him with so much dislike that I concluded that Bingo had pinched his favourite seat.”
- Friend; mate.
verb
Etymology: Borrowed from French couver, from 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”). Cognates * Italian covare
- Of a bird or other animal: to brood, cover, incubate, or sit over (eggs).
“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: […]”