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hove

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hove¹

  • /həʊv/ UK
  • /hoʊv/ US

Rhymes with -əʊv

Where it comes from

From Middle English hoven (“to linger, wait, hover, move aside, entertain, cherish, foster”), from Old English *hofian (“to receive into one's house”), from Proto-Germanic *hufōną (“to house, lodge”), from Proto-Germanic *hufą (“hill, height, farm, dwelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *keup- (“to arch, bend, buckle”).

Cognate with Old Frisian hovia (“to receive into one's home, entertain”), Old Dutch hoven (“to receive into one's home, entertain”). Related to Old English hof (“court, house, dwelling”). More at hovel.

verb hoves · hoving · hoved · huve · huff

  1. intransitive, obsolete To remain suspended in air, water etc.; to float, to hover. As shee arrived on the roring shore, / In minde to leape into the mighty maine, / A little bote lay hoving her before[…].
  2. intransitive, obsolete To wait, linger. Alle these xv knyghtes were knyghtes of the table round / Soo these with moo other came in to gyders / and bete on bak the kynge of Northumberland and the kynge of Northwalys / whan sir launcelot sawe this as he houed in a lytil leued woode / thenne he sayd vnto syre lauayn / see yonder is a company
  3. intransitive, obsolete To move on or by.
  4. dialectal, intransitive To remain; delay.
  5. dialectal, intransitive To remain stationary (usually on horseback).

hove²

  • /həʊv/ UK
  • /hoʊv/ US

Rhymes with -əʊv

Where it comes from

From Middle English hoven, alteration (due to hove, hoven, past tense and past participle of heven (“to heave”)). More at heave.

verb hoves · hoving · hoved

  1. dialectal, transitive To raise; lift; hold up.
  2. dialectal, intransitive To rise. Astond he stood, and vp his haire did houe, / And with that suddein horror could no member moue.

hove³

  • /həʊv/ UK
  • /hoʊv/ US

Rhymes with -əʊv

Where it comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

verb

  1. participle, past simple past and past participle of heave
  2. dialectal, obsolete, participle, past simple past and past participle of heave Pretty soon he gapped and stretched himself and hove off the blanket, and it was Miss Watson's Jim! I bet I was glad to see him.

Similar: heaved

Hove⁴

Where it comes from

Of disputed origin, with suggestions including hufe (“covering, shelter”) and hof (“hall”). More at Hove.

proper noun

  1. A town in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of East Sussex, England, west of Brighton (OS grid ref TQ2804).

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: haugh, hoof, copyright, hoff, hoved, hover, hange, hoise, hing, halse, hoyst, hocus, hawm, haver, hydrofoil, hiddle

verb

Similar: heaved

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MLA

"hove." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hove. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

hove. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hove

Chicago

"hove." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hove.

BibTeX
@misc{hove_2026,
  title = {hove},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hove},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}