Meaning

10 senses

  1. (uncommon)A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.

    Grotte, Kaverne

  2. A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.

    Voute, Hohlkehle, Gewölbe

  3. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds; bight.

    Bucht, Steilküstenbucht, Ausbuchtung

    бу́хточкаbúxtočka

    a small inlet

  4. (US)A strip of prairie extending into woodland.

  5. (Cumbria)A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.

  6. The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.

  7. A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.

  8. (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.

  9. (UK, dated)Man; fellow.

    Kerl, Typ

  10. (Australia, Polari)Friend; mate.

    Kumpel

Examples

8 sentences

  1. The secret cove was a aesthete's dream.

    swolesuki · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. They sailed to the island's secluded cove.

    deSie segelten an die entlegene Bucht der Insel. — Natan

    sundown · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. A secret cove was hidden by perilous-looking rocks.

    swolesuki · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. The pirates moored their ship in the hidden cove.

    rocharex1 · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Down the coast from the shingle beach was a secluded cove.

    zumley · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

8 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds:
Deutsch
By meaning 5
rare: hollow in a rock:
architecture: concave vault:
small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds:
man; fellow:
friend; mate:

Origin

From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic

From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic *kobō, from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with Dutch koof (“cove”), German Low German Koov (“small room”), German Koben (“nook, shed”), Icelandic kofi (“hut, shack”). 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.

Attested in Britain a. 1570, from Romani kodo (“this one, him”, pronounced /koðo/, ultimately undergoing th-fronting to /kov/ in English), or perhaps directly from Romani kova (“that person”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: coves
Singularcove
Pluralcoves

regular

Synonyms

79 synonyms
catA1dudeB1fellowB1gateA2guyA1healthA1wereA1budB2buddyB1companionB1cronyC2duckA2friendA1loverA2

Antonyms

47 antonyms
covessmortblonebabebimbroadB1chickdamedonnafemefemmefraufrowgentlelady

Word family

17 related words
Derivedcoveletcovelikecove moldingdub-coveautem covebadge-covebang-up covebene covecovesscoveycross covedimber covegentry covekinchin covenib-covepater covewapping cove

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
couscouscousinA1couturecovenantcoverA1

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

cove — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto