Sc. Also 6 covan. [Var. of covent, CONVENT.] An assembly, meeting or company. Obs.
1500–20. Dunbar, Quhen mony benefices vakit, Wks. (1885), 205. Lat anis the cop ga round about, And wyn the covanis [v.r. couenis] banesoun.
b. spec. A gathering of witches; a ‘convent’ or company of thirteen witches; cf. CONVENT 1, 2.
1662. in Pitcairn, Crim. Trials Scot., III. 606. Ther vold meit bot sometymes a Coven … Ther is threttein persones in ilk Coeven.
1830. Scott, Demonol., ix. 286. The witches of Auldearne … were told off into squads, or Covines.
1886. C. Rogers, Soc. Life Scot., III. xx. 278. To their covens or gatherings the foul sisterhood were borne through the air.
