\Cove\ (k[=o]v), n. [AS. cofa room; akin to G. koben
pigsty, orig., hut, Icel kofi hut, and perh. to E. cobalt.]
1. A retired nook; especially, a small, sheltered inlet,
   creek, or bay; a recess in the shore.
         Vessels which were in readiness for him within
         secret coves and nooks.               --Holland.
2. A strip of prairie extending into woodland; also, a recess
   in the side of a mountain. [U.S.]
3. (Arch.)
   (a) A concave molding.
   (b) A member, whose section is a concave curve, used
       especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as
       around a skylight.

\Cove\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Coved} (k?vd); p. pr. & vb. n.
{Coving}.] (Arch.)
To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in
the form of a cove.
      The mosques and other buildings of the Arabians are
      rounded into domes and coved roofs.      --H.
                                               Swinburne.
{Coved ceiling}, a ceiling, the part of which next the wail
   is constructed in a cove.
{Coved vault}, a vault composed of four coves meeting in a
   central point, and therefore the reverse of a groined
   vault.

\Cove\, v. t. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See {Covey}.]
To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs.
[Obs.]
      Not being able to cove or sit upon them [eggs], she
      [the female tortoise] bestoweth them in the gravel.
                                               --Holland.

\Cove\, n. [A gypsy word, covo that man, covi that woman.]
A boy or man of any age or station. [Slang]
      There's a gentry cove here.              --Wit's
                                               Recreations
                                               (1654).
      Now, look to it, coves, that all the beef and drink Be
      not filched from us.                     --Mrs.
                                               Browning.