Forms: 1–2 cofa, coua, 4– cove, (Sc. 4 cowe, 5 coaue, 6 coif). [Common Teut.; cf. MHG. kobe (mod.G. koben), MLG. cove, coven, mod. koven; ON. kofi cell, hut, shed, Sw. kofva, dial. kove, kuvi, hut, Norw. kove:—OTeut. *kuƀon. Some of the special applications in Eng. seem to be local developments, and are of late appearance in literature.]
† 1. In OE.: A small chamber, inner chamber, bed-chamber, cell, etc.; common with qualifying word prefixed, as bán-cofa bone-chamber, body, gást-cofa spirit’s chamber, breast.
a. 800. Corpus Gloss., 1583. Pistrimum [-num], cofa.
956. Charter Eadwig, in Cod. Dipl., V. 348. Of mædæna coua on ðone hricweʓ tô Ealhæres byrʓelse.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 1464 (Gr.). Wæs culufre eft of cofan sended.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. civ. 26 [cv. 30]. On cyninga cofum [in cubilibus regum].
c. 1000. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 189/10. Penates, cofgodas.
c. 1050. Gloss., ibid. 423/18. In conclaui, on cofan.
† b. Cove and Key: closet or chamber and key; an ancient legal phrase used by Bracton in reference to the functions and rights of the mistress of a house, from the age of fourteen or fifteen. Obs.
In the 1569 ed. of Bracton, erroneously printed cone and key; repeated in Spelman and the Law Dicts., as well as in the Rolls ed. of Bracton. The MSS. have clearly coue; MS. Rawlinson C. 158 has cleue and key (see CLEVE2 chamber, bed-room, closet = cove); MS. Rawl. C. 159 has cofre, app. altered from cofe. See W. H. Stevenson in Academy, 17 May 1890, 338 (It is not perfectly clear whether cove, cleve closet here meant ‘bed-chamber’ or ‘store-chamber.’)
c. 1250. Bracton, II. xxxvii. § 2. Femina … cum possit et sciat domui suæ disponere et ea facere quæ pertinent ad dispositionem et ordinationem domus, ut sciat quæ pertineant ad coue et keye, quod quidem esse non poterit ante quartum decimum annum vel decimum quintum. Ibid., § 3. Cum esset quatuordecim vel quindecim annorum … in tali ætate potest disponere domui suæ et habere coue et keye.
1651. W. G., trans. Cowel’s Inst., 33. A Woman is supposed to be of perfect age in Socage in all cases so soon as she is able to know how to dispose of her house … and is able to understand what appertains to Cone and Key, which cannot be before she be fourteen or fifteen years old.
1890. W. H. Stevenson, in Academy, 17 May, 338. ‘Cove and key’ meant ‘closet and key,’ referring, no doubt, to the housewife’s storechamber.
† c. A cell in a pigeon-cote. Obs.
1725. Bradley, Family Dict., s.v. Pigeon House, As to the Nests or Coves of the Pigeon-house, some build them in the Wall with flat Bricks.
2. A hollow or recess in a rock, a cave, cavern, den. Sc. and north.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxi. 13. Hus min hus ʓebedes ʓeceiʓed ʓie uutedlice ʓie worhton ða ilca cofn ðeafana [Ags. Gosp. to þeofa cote; Vulg. speluncam latronum]. Ibid., John xi. 38. Se Hælend … cuom to ðæm byrʓenne, uæs uutudlice cofa [Vulg. spelunca] ⁊ stan ofer-ʓessetted uæs him.
c. 1300. Cursor M., 12341 (Cott.). To þe leones coue he yod.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, Magdalena, 814. & in þat roche hey & stay A cowe he had quhare he lay.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 56. All wylde beastes … Drawes … vnto their dennes deepe, Couching for cold in coaues them to keepe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. iv. 21. Vndir the hingand rokkis was alswa Ane coif, and thairin fresch wattir springand.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., 47. A certane coue [Lat. antrum], quhairin water continualie drapping, in a schorte space turnes in a verie quhyte stane.
1787. Burns, Halloween, i. Note, A noted cavern near Colean-house, called the Cove of Colean.
1849. Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. 358. The dark caverns, or ‘coves’ … tenanted by these animals.
3. A recess with precipitous sides in the steep flank of a mountain. (Common in the English Lake district, where small lateral valleys often end in ‘coves.’) b. In some parts of U.S. = gap, pass.
1805. Wordsw., Fidelity, iii. It was a cove, a huge recess That keeps till June, December’s snow.
1872. Jenkinson, Guide Eng. Lakes (1879), 337. The dark, solitary hollows of Nethermost, Ruthwaite, and Cock coves. Ibid., 342. A wild, secluded cove, at the head of the glen.
1872. Schele de Vere, Americanisms, 511. Notch, a narrow passage, through the mountains … in the Catskill mountains represented by Cove.
4. A sheltered recess in a coast; a small bay, creek or inlet where boats may shelter.
1590. Ferris, Voy. Bristol, in Arb., Garner, VI. 161. Within five miles of St. Ives, we were constrained to seek for a cove; which we found called St. Dryvey, in Cornwall.
1634. Capt. Smith, Virginia, I. 20. Gallant Coues, to containe in many of them 100 sayle.
1674. Ray, S. & E. C. Words, 62. Cove, a little harbour for boats. West Countrey.
1720. De Foe, Capt. Singleton, iv. 58. We run our vessel into a little cove.
1776. C. Lee, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), I. 244. The creek, or cove, which separates it from the continent, is near a mile wide.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 37. There are several coves and indentures in the cliffs between the Start Point and the mouth of the Dart river.
1833. Tennyson, Poems, 30. As waves that from the outer deep Roll into a quiet cove.
5. transf. A sheltered place or recess among hills, woods, etc.
1786. W. Gilpin, Mount. & Lakes, I. 133. Ambleside is … delightfully seated. A cove of lofty mountains half incircles it on the north.
1787. Wordsw., Evening Walk, 2. ’Tis mine to rove Through bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral.
1860. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., Cove, a strip of prairie extending into the woodland.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, II. xii. 35. Small farm-houses, and even private houses, may not unfrequently be met with in the little coves of the valleys.
6. Arch. A concave arch or vault; an arched molding or concavity running along the projecting member of a structure; esp. the concave arch of a ceiling; now usually the quadrantal curve at its junction with the cornice.
1511. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., Payd for makyng off a cove ouer de ovyn.
1645. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 219. The fillings up, or cove, betwixt the walls, were of urns and earthen pots, for the better sounding.
1787. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 133. O’er arching, mouldy, gloom-inspiring coves, Supporting roofs fantastic.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 278, note. This course … forms the cove on the outside.
1797. Trans. Soc. Encouragem. Arts, XV. 252. Paintings … on curved surfaces, such as the coves of ceilings.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 139. The coves and cornices of rooms are generally executed in plaster.
1884. Law Times, 18 Oct., 401/2. The ceiling … is … joined to the walls with a cove having a radius of six feet.
b. Naut. (See quot.)
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 112. Cove. The arched moulding sunk in at the foot or lower part of the taffrail.
7. Comb. Cove-bracketing (see quot.); cove-plane, a plane for cutting coved surfaces.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 146. In some shops it will be worked out by hand with cove planes.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Cove Bracketing, the wooden skeleton for the lathing of any cove … usually applied to that of the quadrantal cove, which is placed between the flat ceiling and the wall.
