cove

¹ American  

[kohv] / koʊv /

noun

1. a small indentation or recess in the shoreline of a sea, lake, or river.

2. a sheltered nook.

3. a hollow or recess in a mountain; cave; cavern.

4. a narrow pass between woods or hills.

5. a sheltered area between woods or hills.

6. Architecture.

   1. a concave surface or molding.

   2. a concave surface forming part of a ceiling at its edge so as to eliminate the usual interior angle between the wall and ceiling.

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verb (used with or without object)

coved, coving

1. to make or become a cove.

cove ² American  

[kohv] / koʊv /

noun

1. British Slang. a person; fellow.

2. Australian Slang. a manager, especially of a sheep station.

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cove ¹ British  

/ kəʊv /

noun

1. a small bay or inlet, usually between rocky headlands

2. a narrow cavern formed in the sides of cliffs, mountains, etc, usually by erosion

3. a sheltered place

4. Also called: coving.  architect a concave curved surface between the wall and ceiling of a room

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verb

1. (tr) to form an architectural cove in

cove ² British  

/ kəʊv /

noun

1. old-fashioned a fellow; chap

2. history an overseer of convict labourers

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Etymology

Origin of cove¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English cofa “cave, den, closet”; cognate with Old Norse kofi “hut,” Greek gýpē “cave”

Origin of cove²

First recorded in 1560–70; of uncertain origin; perhaps from Romani kova “creature, thing, person”

Explanation

A cove is a small, sheltered part of an ocean's coast. A cove can be a good place to put a sea kayak in the water and start paddling along the shore. A cove is basically the same thing as a "bay," but smaller. Coves are protected coastal areas affected by tides and connected to the open sea by a narrow entrance. The water in a cove is calmer than the open ocean, and the cove itself is often oval or circular in shape. The earliest meaning of cove was "den or cave," and later "small bay," probably influenced by a Scottish meaning of the word, "hollow place in coastal rocks."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cove coved coving

The silver lake, the tropical cove and the swinging hammock loom large in summer’s mythology because they answer our desire for enclosure and immersion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

The croc was independent and apparently a “confirmed bachelor,” a characteristic he made clear “during his earlier years at a crocodile farm,” the cove said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2024

Kenzie said his belongings had been found by police and coastguard at a cove accessed by boat.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2024

Since colonization, the shore of the deep water cove has exploded with dirty energy production and other manufacturing, supporting an aluminum smelter, oil refineries and a liquefied petroleum gas facility.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 28, 2023

I watched them cruise in and around the cove in the Whaler, with Vern wrapped in a blanket as if he had already fallen in.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Another highlight comes downstairs, where a game room with an extravagant wet bar features murals, coved ceilings and polished concrete floors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2022

Though it is state-of-the-art, the gallery looks splendidly 19th-century, with a coved ceiling and an overhead window that lets daylight in.

From Economist ● Sep. 18, 2014

There are 26 rooms featuring coved ceilings, cornices and natural light from skylights in 18 of the galleries.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2012

This led by the late 1960s to works known as light encasements, squares of monochrome plastic with neon lights embedded along the edges, intended to be installed in white rooms with coved corners.

From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2012

The coved roof is of timber, plain and bold, and destitute either of the open tie-beams and arches, or the knot-work and cross timber which adorn our old English roofs.

From Account of a Tour in Normandy, Volume 1 by Turner, Dawson

Among those who left their mark are a group believed to have worked on the coving in 1968 and the earliest, a plasterer, T Harwood whose signature is dated 1843.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025

This day of proceedings was characterized by those coving the trial as tense, as LaPierre repeatedly "tried to insert justifications for expenditures which Sheehan elicited in his questions."

From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2021

I like to think the old face is still underneath like a piece of buried Victorian coving, snarling and bantering to itself behind the immobile corporate façade.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2010

The couch was overturned, with its coving and pillows strewn about.

From Astounding Stories, July, 1931 by Various

A broad plaster coving is the principal feature of the simple molded cornice, and one notes the much used double belt formed by two projecting courses of brick at the second-floor level.

From The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia by Cousins, Frank