hover
Americanverb (used without object)
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to hang fluttering or suspended in the air.
The helicopter hovered over the building.
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to keep lingering about; wait near at hand.
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to remain in an uncertain or irresolute state; waver.
to hover between life and death.
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Computers. to place a pointer over an area of a screen without clicking or tapping, as with a mouse or stylus.
Hover over the icon to reveal more information.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to hover.
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Computers. to place (a pointer) over an area of a screen without clicking or tapping.
noun
verb
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(intr) to remain suspended in one place
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(intr) (of certain birds, esp hawks) to remain in one place in the air by rapidly beating the wings
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(intr) to linger uncertainly in a nervous or solicitous way
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(intr) to be in a state of indecision
she was hovering between the two suitors
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(tr) computing to hold (the mouse pointer) over a defined area on a web page without clicking, in order to cause a menu, information box, etc to appear
noun
Related Words
See fly 2 .
Other Word Forms
- hoverer noun
- hoveringly adverb
Etymology
Origin of hover
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English hoveren, frequentative of hoven “to hover,” of obscure origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One evening, he watched as a luminous hand took a sheet of paper he had previously marked and wrote while hovering “three or four inches from the carpet.”
From Literature
With hours to go until the focus shifts to the negotiating table, the question still hovers ominously.
From BBC
Whenever a swarm of pixies would hover around a particular spot of rock, the miners knew precisely where they should dig.
From Literature
The challenge for the president is that his public approval ratings are hovering around 40 percent, and the American public wants him to do more to address their concerns.
From BBC
With core inflation hovering near 3% and unemployment steady, the case for patience remains strong, he argued.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
