hove

See also: Hove, hově, høve, and ho ve

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /həʊv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hoʊv/
• Rhymes: -əʊv

Etymology 1

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

hove (third-person singular simple present hoves, present participle hoving, simple past and past participle hoved)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To remain suspended in air, water etc.; to float, to hover.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     As shee arrived on the roring shore, / In minde to leape into the mighty maine, / A little bote lay hoving her before […].

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To wait, linger.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII (in Middle English):

     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 of good knyghtes

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (obsolete, intransitive) To move on or by.
4. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To remain; delay.
5. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To remain stationary (usually on horseback).

Alternative forms

• huve, huff, houf (Scotland)

Etymology 2

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

Verb

hove (third-person singular simple present hoves, present participle hoving, simple past and past participle hoved)

1. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To raise; lift; hold up.
2. (intransitive, now chiefly dialectal) To rise.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Astond he stood, and vp his haire did houe, / And with that suddein horror could no member moue.

   • 2023 August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL, number 989, page 3:

     This will become increasingly urgent as next year's General Election hoves into view.

Etymology 3

Inflected forms.

Verb

hove

1. (nautical) simple past and past participle of heave
2. (obsolete or dialectal) simple past and past participle of heave
   • 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:

     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.

Synonyms

• heaved

Middle Dutch

Noun

hōve

1. inflection of hof:
   1. dative singular
   2. nominative/accusative/genitive plural

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English hōfe.

Noun

hōve (uncountable)

1. ground-ivy

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²ho.ʋə/

Etymology 1

Verb

hove

1. supine of hevja

Participle

hove

1. neuter of hoven

Adjective

hove

1. neuter of hoven

Etymology 2

Noun

hove n (definite singular hovet, indefinite plural hove, definite plural hova)

1. (dialectal) alternative form of hovud (“head”)
   • 1974, Knut Horvei, Gann, [Oslo]: Noregs boklag, page 91:

     Berre ikkje Kreksen vart eit hove kortare [...]

     Lest Kreksen became a head shorter.

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhove/

Noun

hove

1. dative singular of hof

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN