Cove

Cove (kōv), n. [AS. cofa room; akin to G. koben pigsty, orig., hut, Icel. kofi hut, and perh. to E. cobalt.]

1. A retired nook; especially, a small, sheltered inlet, creek, or bay; a recess in the shore.

Vessels which were in readiness for him within secret coves and nooks. Holland.

2. A strip of prairie extending into woodland; also, a recess in the side of a mountain. [U.S.]

3. (Arch.) (a) A concave molding. (b) A member, whose section is a concave curve, used especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as around a skylight.

Cove, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Coved (k?vd); p. pr. & vb. n. Coving.] (Arch.) To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.

The mosques and other buildings of the Arabians are rounded into domes and coved roofs. H. Swinburne.

Coved ceiling, a ceiling, the part of which next the wail is constructed in a cove. — Coved vault, a vault composed of four coves meeting in a central point, and therefore the reverse of a groined vault.

Cove, v. t. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.] To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [Obs.]

Not being able to cove or sit upon them [eggs], she [the female tortoise] bestoweth them in the gravel. Holland.

Cove, n. [A gypsy word, covo that man, covi that woman.] A boy or man of any age or station. [Slang]

There's a gentry cove here. Wit's Recreations.

Now, look to it, coves, that all the beef and drink Be not filched from us. Mrs. Browning.