cove

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A small sheltered bay in the shoreline of a sea, river, or lake.
2. n. A recess or small valley in the side of a mountain.
3. n. A cave or cavern.
4. n. A narrow gap or pass between hills or woods.
5. n. Architecture A concave molding.
6. n. Architecture A concave surface forming a junction between a ceiling and a wall. Also called coving.
7. v. To make in an inward curving form.
8. n. Chiefly British A fellow; a man.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A small inlet, creek, or bay; a recess or nook in the shore of any considerable body of water.
2. n. Hence A hollow, nook, or recess in a mountain, or among mountains. The word cove is used with this meaning in various regions, especially in the Lake district of England, and in parts of the Appalachian range in the United States. The coves of the Blue Ridge in Virginia are oval, almost entirely inclosed, valleys, and are a prominent topographical feature of that part of the Appalachian system.
3. n. In architecture, a concavity; any kind of concave molding; the hollow of a vault. The term is commonly applied to the curve which is sometimes used to connect the ceiling of a room with the walls, and which springs from above the cornice. See coved ceiling, under coved.
4. n. In ship-building, a curved or arched molding at the bottom of the taffrail. An elliptical molding above it was called the arch of the cove.
5. To arch over.
6. To brood, cover, or sit over.
7. n. A man; a person; a fellow: generally preceded by some adjective: as, an old cove; a rum cove; a flash cove, etc.

Wiktionary

1. n. UK A fellow; a man.
2. n. Australia A friend; a mate.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A retired nook; especially, a small, sheltered inlet, creek, or bay; a recess in the shore.
2. n. U.S. A strip of prairie extending into woodland; also, a recess in the side of a mountain.
3. n. A concave molding.
4. n. A member, whose section is a concave curve, used especially with regard to an inner roof or ceiling, as around a skylight.
5. v. (Arch.) To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of cove.
6. v. obsolete To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs.
7. n. Slang A boy or man of any age or station.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a small inlet
2. n. small or narrow cave in the side of a cliff or mountain