hover
/ˈhʌvɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.26 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).
Transitive verb
verb
Of a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
verb
Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Castration has a ſtrange effect: it emaſculates both man, beaſt, and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. […] Capons have ſmall combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets; they alſo vvalk vvithout any parade, and hover chickens like hens."
- "O'er the deer Corps ſomtimes her vvings ſhe [an eagle] hovers, / Somtimes the dead breſt vvith her breſt ſhe covers, […]"
- "Thus have I lain conceal'd like a vvinter Fly, hoping for ſome bleſt Sun-Shine to vvarm me into Life again, and make me hover my flagging VVings; […]"
- "The hummingbird hovered by the plant."
- "[T]hough you go to Theaters to see sport, Cupid may cache you ere you departe. The little god hovereth aboute you, and fanneth you with his wings to kindle fire: when you are set as fixed whites, Desire draweth his arrow to the head, and sticketh it uppe to the fethers, and Fancy bestireth him to shed his poyson through every vayne."
- "Thus meerely vvith the garment of a grace, / The naked and concealed feind he couerd, / That th'vnexperient gaue the tempter place, / VVhich like a Cherubin aboue them houerd, / VVho young and ſimple vvould not be ſo louerd."
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English hoveren (“to float in the air, hover; to stay”), probably from hoven (“hover; of a bird: to fly high in the air, soar”) (which it displaced) + -er- (frequentative suffix). Hoven is probably derived from Old English *hōfian, from hōfon, the plural past indicative form of hebban (“to lift, raise”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift; to heave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to hold, seize”). The English word is analysable as hove (“(obsolete) to remain suspended, float, hover; to linger, wait”) + -er (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhʌvɚ/
- British English: /ˈhɒvə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
hovers (present, singular)
hovering (participle, present)
hovered (participle, past)
hovered (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
hovered (first person, past)
hoverest (archaic, present)
hovered (past, second person)
hoveredst (archaic, past)
hovereth (archaic, present)
hovered (past, singular)