hovel

American  

[huhv-uhl, hov-] / ˈhʌv əl, ˈhɒv- /

noun

1. a small, very humble dwelling house; a wretched hut.

2. any dirty, disorganized dwelling.

3. an open shed, as for sheltering cattle or tools.

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verb (used with object)

hoveled, hoveling, hovelled, hovelling

1. to shelter or lodge as in a hovel.

hovel British  

/ ˈhʌvəl, ˈhɒv- /

noun

1. a ramshackle dwelling place

2. an open shed for livestock, carts, etc

3. the conical building enclosing a kiln

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verb

1. to shelter or be sheltered in a hovel

Etymology

Origin of hovel

1375–1425; late Middle English hovell, of uncertain origin

Explanation

A hovel is a small shed or dwelling, often messy, cramped, and crudely built, such as a shelter in a refugee camp — or possibly your apartment if you have too much stuff and not enough time to clean. The word hovel was used in the fifteenth century to describe a shed used for animals, and by the seventeenth century the word had taken on its current usage as a way to describe a crude human dwelling — though the connotation of a messiness associated with animals still remains. The word can be used literally to describe something that is a ramshackle shack, but you’ll also hear it used with wry humor to describe a person’s modest living quarters: “Well, I’m off to my hovel to get some sleep.”

Example Sentences

Each morning Dick would walk through a barbed-wire-and-wooden-post fence and across a grassy meadow to a cabin he called the Hovel, where he did much of his writing.

From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2010

Krawczyk, a partner at law firm Kravit Hovel & Krawczyk in Milwakuee, which represents the districts.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2010

Captain and Mrs. Steele, who were the first to arrive, had driven to Kensington from their country-house, the Hovel at Hampton Wick.

From The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne by Thackeray, William Makepeace

Cities and fields I walk: I penetrate Deserts and fields remote, and, passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once at every gate!

From Poems Teachers Ask For Selected by readers of "Normal Instructor-Primary Plans" by Various

Do. of King Lear in the Storm at the Hovel.

From The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq. Composed from Materials Furnished by Himself by Galt, John

Related Words

• cottage
• hut
• lean-to
• shack
• shanty