Forms 4–7 couert, 4 Sc. cowert, 5 coouert, coovert, cowart, 5–6 couerte, 4– covert. [a. F. couvert, f. couvert, pa. pple. of couvrir to cover: see COVERT a.]
1. gen. A covering.
a. 1400. Stac. Rome, 768. Vppon his hed A covert of brasse.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 140. I suppose that this woman slepte Withowtyn alle coverte.
1630. Wadsworth, Pilgr., viii. 90. My bed was straw … without any couert at all.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VII. (1682), 303. His Head vailed with a Wooden covert.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Search, viii. What covert dare eclipse thy face?
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 200. Provident nature hath wrapped them [Wal-nuts] in so many coverts.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. Surrey, 146. Sheltered from the cold Air by a moveable Covert.
1811. W. R. Spencer, Poems, 82. With blood-stain’d covert rent.
2. That which serves for concealment, protection or shelter; a hiding-place, shelter; = COVER sb. 3.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2217. No couert miȝt þei kacche þe cuntre was so playne.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 582. Towart the cowert can he ga.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 71. Couert of treis sawit him full weille.
1550. Lever, Serm. (Arb.), 137. Whyche also shall make bryghte the couertes of darknesse.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, II. iv. 113. In this City, Sheba the rebell, pursued by Joab … took covert.
1691. Ray, Creation, II. (1704), 363. They did all creep out of their Holes and Coverts.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 302. Firing from behind stone walls, and such like coverts.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. III. 80. A surer covert for the thief than night.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., VI. li. 385. No thicket offered covert, no swamp a refuge from cavalry.
b. fig. = COVER 3 d.
1574. trans. Marlorat’s Apocalips, 1 b. Vnder the couerts of figures, [rather] than in open speeche.
1597. Bacon, Coulers Good & Evill, vii. (Arb.), 148. Hipocrisie draweth neer to religion for couert.
1713. S. Pycroft, Brief Enq. Free-thinking, 30. Free-Thinking is made the common Covert for Scepticism.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 128. Publicity Stopped further fear … and what tale Cowardice thinks a covert.
c. † By covert: under cover, covertly. † In (into) covert: in concealment; in hiding, or disguise, secretly; rarely, in safety. In (the) covert of: in the shelter of; † rarely, in shelter from. [Cf. F. à couvert de in both senses.] Under covert: under cover, in shelter; † in concealment, under a disguise. Under (the) covert of: (lit. and fig.) under the shelter, authority or countenance of; under the veil or disguise of; † under cover of (a letter).
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VI. 528. [He] held hym in-to cowert ay.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 13652. His cuntre [he] keppit in couert & pes To the last of his lyf.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., Proem in Ashm. (1652), 8. Bacon, and Raimond, with others many moe Wrote under covert, and Aristotle alsoe.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. xxiv. 137. Whiche [trestelles] shal serve to make aleyes undre couert.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, clxiii. 636. They came downe in a valey by couerte … but the valyaunt knyght … spyed them.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke xii. 113. Neither is there anythyng … so close under coverte, which shall not … be uncouered.
1549–62. Sternhold & H., Ps. xvii. 8. And under covert of thy winges defend me secretly.
1562. Cooper, Answ. Priv. Masse (1850), 198. Under the Covert of that name you do … set forth your own error.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 2. If you have any delight in his felowshyp, use the same rather in covert … at home.
1611. Bible, Job xl. 21. He lieth vnder the shady trees, in the couert of the reede, and fennes.
1641. Wilkins, Mercury, ii. (1707), 10. Arguments … when they steal into a Man’s Assent, under the Covert of a Parable.
c. 1650. Howell, Lett. (1892), 599. I receiv’d your last under the covert of Sir John Sackvil.
1678. A. Lovell, Fontaine’s Duties Cav., 141. Ditches, Hedges, little Hillocks, and in a word, of every thing that may put the Souldiers under Covert.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, III. xx. (1715), 153. Walls … under the Covert of which the Vessels had Protection.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., VI. 11. Thy Bees a quiet Station find, And lodge ’em under Covert of the Wind. Ibid., Eclog, VII. 12. Sit here with us, in covert of the Wind.
1773. Han. More, Search Happ., I. 134. The Dame … Dwells in the covert of yon green retreat.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, VIII. 305. He under covert fought of the broad shield.
1862. Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., I. vi. 382. Every theory of roofing and lighting which places the whole of an Assyrian palace under covert.
3. A place that gives shelter to wild animals or game; esp. a thicket; = COVER sb. 4.
[1199. Rot. Chartarum, 21. Sex acras terræ in foresta nostra … juxta coopertum bosci.]
1494. Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 17. It is ordained … that no Man … drive them out of their Coverts.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, 37. Coverts or boroughes, wherein … he may find game at pleasure.
1596. Drayton, Legends, II. 379. Like a Deere … to the Covert doth himselfe betake.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 141, ¶ 10. Sportsmen who boast of killing the foxes which they lodge in the covert.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., I. i. 2. Wolves … infested the woods and coverts.
1863. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia, 19. The spiked palmetto forms an impenetrable covert.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, lxiii. 72. Am I to … Be with hind that haunts the covert?
fig. 1641. Milton, Prel. Episc. (1851), 88. Tradition … that wild, and overgrowne Covert of antiquity.
1691. Ray, Creation (1714), 335. The hedgehog … within his Covert or thicket of Prickles.
† 4. The technical term for a flock or ‘company’ of coots. Obs.
c. 1430. Lydg., Hors, Shepe & G. (1822), 30. A couerte of cootes.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F vj b. A Couert of cootes.
[1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., I. ii. 28.]
5. Ornith. in pl. Feathers that cover the bases of the larger feathers on some particular part of the body, e.g., tail-coverts, wing-coverts, esp. the latter.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., III. VII. xiii. The coverts of the wings are of a deep blackish green.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds, 290. The middle coverts deep blue, glossed with green and gold.
1825. Waterton, Wand. S. Amer., II. ii. 179. The great coverts of the wings are stiff, narrow and pointed.
1834. R. Mudie, Feathered Tribes Brit. Isles (1841), I. 8. The ear covert … consists of certain feathers that cover the external organ of hearing.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 351/1. The feathers which lie immediately over the quill-feathers are the ‘greater coverts’ … The small feathers … upon the bones of the antebrachium … the ‘lesser coverts.’
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. I. iv. § 1. 73. The wing-coverts are brownish, with the greater coverts white.
† 6. Law. In phr. Under covert = COVERTURE 9.
1563. Homilies, II. Matrimony (1859), 506. She is under covert and obedience of her husband.
1677. W. Sherlock, Answ. Pamph. by T. Danson, 67. As a Wife under covert is secured from all Arrests at Law?
1710. Steele & Addison, Tatler, No. 262, ¶ 4. She was now under Covert, and not liable to any Debts contracted when she was a single Woman.
b. transf. Authority, jurisdiction.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), I. 243/2. Bishops and Priests ought not to come under the covert and controlement of Temporal power.
7. attrib., as (sense 3) covert-bough, -shooting, -side; covert coat, a short light overcoat worn while shooting, riding, etc., and as a dust-coat; hence covert coating, material, usually waterproof, for such coats; covert-feather = COVERT 5; † covert-parent, parental authority or protection (after covert-baron).
1816. L. Hunt, Rimini, III. 360. The birds that shot the *covert boughs between.
Mod. Advt. Waterproof Venetian *covert coats.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 190. Fasten a bell upon the two *couert feathers of your hawkes stearne.
1760. Edwards, in Phil. Trans., LI. 835. The … covert feathers of the wings and tail.
1867. B. P. Brent, in Tegetmeier, Pigeons, xxi. (1867), 171. The whole of the lesser covert feathers of the wing shoulders.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, IV. vi. § 6. Being grown Virgins of prety stature they were closely kept under *covert-parent.
1885. New Bk. of Sports, 34. The physical aspects of *covert-shooting … have changed very much.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. x. 305. He mounts his hack, and is off to the *covert-side.
