Cove (k?v), 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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
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 (1654).
Now, look to it, coves, that all the beef and drink
Be not filched from us.
Mrs. Browning.
© Webster 1913.