covey

American  

[kuhv-ee] / ˈkʌv i /

noun

• coveys
  plural

1. a brood or small flock of partridges or similar birds.

2. a group, set, or company.

---

covey British  

/ ˈkʌvɪ /

noun

1. a small flock of grouse or partridge

2. a small group, as of people

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• coveys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of covey

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English, variant of covee, from Anglo-French, Old French, noun use of feminine of past participle of cover “to hatch,” from Latin cubāre “to lie down”; cf. couvade, concubine

Explanation

A covey is a social group of birds. You can also use it for a group of people, like the covey of kids that hangs out on the playground after school. The roots of covey go back to the Latin cubare, "incubate or hatch." The word was originally used for a brood of newly-hatched partridges or other similar birds. Today it can refer to one family group, like a mother pigeon and her chicks, or a flock that hangs out together. Feel free to describe other groups using this word, like the covey of tourists walking slowly down the sidewalk with their map as the locals dodge past them.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

covey coveys

Now, the family keeps a covey of cloth masks in a basket near the front door.

From Washington Post ● May 30, 2020

One surprise in his black art exhibition was the inclusion of “Virginian Partridge,” a dramatic 1830 John James Audubon graphic showing a fierce red hawk going after a covey of fluttering quail.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2020

From businesses, governments and organisations, a scripted response will fail to resonate as it will not covey empathy and compassion.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2018

While pondering how man-made rubbish can still find its way far into no-man’s land, a covey of Gambel’s quail flushed off to my side.

From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2017

Dane finally arrives and sits on a nearby swooping oak branch rather than join the covey of boulders we sit on.

From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson

The book resonates with a rustic knowingness that coveys the intricacies and suspicions of tightly bound lives.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2024

In the fall and winter, quail typically live in flocks, or coveys, with about a dozen birds.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2023

A Park Service employee, for example, does not have the right to tweet or blog things related to their official duties in a manner that coveys official status.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2017

French has no word that combines the sense of “broken” and “mad” that cracked coveys in English, so De Freyman makes it “cinglé”, which comes back from Schwartz as “crazy”.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 4, 2016

Thirteen resident coveys — 121 quail — ranged over the area.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson