[a. Fr. alcôve, ad. Sp. Pg. alcova, alcoba, ad. Arab. al-qobbah, i.e., al the + qobbah a vault, a vaulted chamber; f. qubba to vault.]
1. A vaulted recess; especially, a. ‘A recess, or part of a chamber, separated by an estrade or partition, and other correspondent ornaments; in which is placed a bed of state, and sometimes seats to entertain company.’ J. In Spain applied also to the recess for the bed in an ordinary chamber.
[1623. Minsheu, Sp. Dict., Alcoba, a closet, a close roome for a bed.]
1676. D’Urfey, Mad. Fickle, IV. ii. (1677), 43. D’ee hear ’em Sir—they’re yonder in th’ Alcove.
1678. Phillips, Alcove, a recess within a chamber for the setting of a Bed out of the way; where for state many times the Bed is advanced upon two or three ascents with a rail at the feet.
1688. in Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 751–2 (T.). Of these eighteen were let into the Bed-chamber: But they stood at the furthest end of the room. The Ladies stood within the alcove.
1725. Pope, Odyss., III. 510. Deep in a rich alcove the prince was laid, And slept beneath the pompous colonnade.
a. 1733. North, Lives of Norths, I. 272. A large hall was built with a sort of alcove at one end for distinction.
1753. Hanway, Travels (1762), I. VII. xcii. 422. His bed … was in a small alcove or niche.
1878. G. Macdonald, Ann. Quiet Neighb., vi. 74. She emerged from a recess in the room, a kind of dark alcove.
b. An arched recess or niche in the wall of any building or apartment, of a cave, etc.
1786. Cowper, Gratitude, 33. This china that decks the alcove Which here people call a buffet.
1830. Milman, Hist. Jews, I. I. (ed. 2), 21. The common cemetery … is usually hewn out of the rock … with alcoves in the sides, where the coffins are deposited.
1856. Miss Mulock, John Halifax, 159. John and I were in the alcove of the window.
1872. O. Shipley, Gloss. Eccl. Terms, 175. In England these [Easter] sepulchres are often permanent alcoves.
2. A recess in a garden or pleasure ground, originally in the surrounding wall or hedge; but in later usage, Any covered retreat, a bower or summerhouse.
1706. Addison, Rosamond, I. vi. Amaranths, and Eglantines, With intermingling sweets have wove The particolour’d gay Alcove.
1766. C. Anstey, Bath Guide, ix. 58. Some to Lincomb’s shady groves, Or to Simpson’s proud Alcoves.
1817. Coleridge, Biogr. Lit., 249. The women and children feasting in the alcoves of box and yew.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. Bremer’s Greece, II. xvi. 146. A lofty rugged rock, formed by nature into a rude alcove.
1870. D. Rossetti, Poems, Jenny (1871), 123. And in the alcove coolly spread Glimmers with dawn your empty bed.
