cove

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncommon) A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
2. A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.
3. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds; bight.
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.

Verb

To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.

Verb

Of a bird or other animal: to brood, cover, incubate, or sit over (eggs).

Synonyms

bay

inlet

creek

gulf

bight

sound

🔉

pass

notch

chap

small bay

cave

fellow

fjord

defile

dick

dock

dude

estuary

fella

feller

file

fiord

gap

geezer

glade

gulch

guy

harbor

harbour

homey

isthmus

jack

lagoon

man

👨

nook

picture window

scotia

trochilus

engpass

mountain pass

embayment

scotia moulding

arm

sea-inlet

backwater

band

bank

🏦

berry

bloke

bottleneck

Translations

baie

Bucht

crique

ensenada

baai

anse

enseada

baia

inham

insenatura

baía

κόλπος

calanque

cala

kreek

Pronounced as (IPA)

/koʊv/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cove

Inherited from Old English: cofa

Cognate with German: Koben

Cognate with Swedish: kova

In summary

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.