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

But south of the tunnel, Highway 1 still parallels a stretch of towering cliffs overlooking a sheltered cove.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026

We headed not for an orchard but to an island estate in downeast Maine where apple trees overlook a quiet cove.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

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

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2024

The attendees included some two dozen federal and state judges — a gathering that required U.S. marshals with earpieces to stand watch while a Coast Guard boat idled in a nearby cove.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 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

Heavy on original details as well, the single-story charmer has hardwood floors, coved ceilings, bay windows, decorative fireplaces, exposed beams and built-in bookshelves.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2020

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

Into this open a number of coved rooms, adorned with paintings of figures and arabesques. 

From Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents by Beckford, William

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

As at Hope Lodge a broad plaster coving is the principal feature of the simple cornice.

From The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia by Cousins, Frank