different between cove vs grotto

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?v
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ko?v/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??v/
• Rhymes: -??v
• Homophone: Cobh

Etymology 1

From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with German Koben, Swedish kova. This word has probably survived as long as it has due to its coincidental phonetic resemblence to the unrelated word "cave".

Noun

cove (plural coves)

1. (now uncommon) A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern. [from 9th c.]
2. (architecture) A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling. [from 16th c.]
3. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds. [from 16th c.]
   • 1600, Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie

     secret coves and noukes

4. (US) A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
5. A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain. [from 19th c.]
6. (nautical) The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship. [from 19th c.]
7. (nautical) A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level. [from 19th c.]

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations

Verb

cove (third-person singular simple present coves, present participle coving, simple past and past participle coved)

1. (architecture) To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.
   • 1779, Henry Swinburne, Travels through Spain

     The mosques and other buildings of the Arabians are rounded into domes and coved roofs.

Etymology 2

Britain ante-1570. From Romani kodo (“this one, him”), perhaps change in consonants due to lower class th-fronting, or Romani kova (“that person”).

Noun

cove (plural coves)

1. (Britain, dated, informal, thieves' cant) A fellow; a man.
2. (Australia and Polari) A friend; a mate.

Synonyms

• (man): See Thesaurus:man
• (friend): See Thesaurus:friend

Antonyms

• (man): covess, mort (specific antonyms)
• (man): See Thesaurus:woman (general antonyms)
• (friend): See Thesaurus:enemy

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Compare French couver, Italian covare. See covey.

Verb

cove (third-person singular simple present coves, present participle coving, simple past and past participle coved)

1. To brood, cover, or sit over, as birds their eggs.
   • 1603, Philemon Holland (translator), The Philosophie, commonly called, the Morals (originally by Plutarch)

     Not being able to cove or sit upon them [eggs], she [the female tortoise] bestoweth them in the gravel.

Anagrams

• Voce

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin cophinus, from Ancient Greek ??????? (kóphinos, “basket”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?k?.v?/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?k?.b?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?k?.ve/

Noun

cove m (plural coves)

1. A large basket

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ko.ve/
• Hyphenation: có?ve

Noun

cove f

1. plural of cova

Anagrams

• voce

English

Etymology

From Italian grotta, from Vulgar Latin grupta, from Classical Latin crypta. Doublet of crypt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????t.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /????.to?/
• Rhymes: -?t??

Noun

grotto (plural grottos or grottoes)

1. A small cave.
2. An artificial cavern-like retreat.
3. A Marian shrine, usually built in a cavern-like structure.
4. A local organization of cavers that typically organizes trips to caves and provides information and training for caving; a caving club.
   • 1987, National Speleological Society, NSS News, vol. 45-46, p.331:

     An earlier attempt to organize a grotto in the Indiana, PA, area in the mid-1970s failed to succeed, but from it developed the informal Chestnut Ridge Explorers Association.
5. (Satanism) A secretive name for a local group of underground Satanists.

Derived terms

• grot
• Santa's grotto

Translations