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cove

[kohv]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

a small indentation or recess in the shoreline of a sea, lake, or river.

a sheltered nook.

a hollow or recess in a mountain; cave; cavern.

a narrow pass between woods or hills.

a sheltered area between woods or hills.

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Architecture.

a concave surface or molding.

a concave surface forming part of a ceiling at its edge so as to eliminate the usual interior angle between the wall and ceiling.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

to make or become a cove.

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Cove is always a great word to know.

So is cornice. Does it mean:

any relatively broad, flat, horizontal surface, such as the outer edge of a cornice or a stringcourse

any prominent, continuous, horizontally projecting feature surmounting a wall or other construction

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Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English cofa cave, den, closet; cognate with Old Norse kofi hut, Greek gýpē cave

Example Sentences

He's a temperamental cove who wears his heart on his sleeve.

Where a band of solid rock gives way, waves claw at weaker clays behind to sculpt a cove or a bay.

Six tennis courts and a fitness center overlook the cove.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

British Slang. a person; fellow.

Australian Slang. a manager, especially of a sheep station.

Origin:
1560–70; said to be < Romany kova creature

Link To cove

Collins

World English Dictionary

cove¹ (kəʊv)

—n
1.	a small bay or inlet, usually between rocky headlands
2.	a narrow cavern formed in the sides of cliffs, mountains, etc, usually by erosion
3.	a sheltered place
4.	architect Also called: coving a concave curved surface between the wall and ceiling of a room

—vb
5.	(tr) to form an architectural cove in

[Old English cofa; related to Old Norse kofi, Old High German kubisi tent]

cove² (kəʊv)

—n
1.	old-fashioned, slang (Brit), (Austral) a fellow; chap
2.	(Austral) history an overseer of convict labourers

[C16: probably from Romany kova thing, person]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

cove

O.E. cofa "small chamber, cell," from P.Gmc. *kubon. Extension of meaning to "small bay" is 1590, apparently via Scot. dialectal meaning "small hollow place in coastal rocks" (c.950).

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