v. Obs. [a. F. couve-r, OF. cover, to hatch (eggs):—L. cubāre to lie, recline.] trans. and intr. To incubate, hatch, or sit upon.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXI. xvii. Those living creature that couve and quicken their egges within their belly. Ibid., Index to X. liii. The knitting of egges within the bodie, the laying, couving and sitting of them. Ibid. (1603), Plutarch’s Mor., 1316. Whiles they sit and cove, their egges be preserved drie.
