hover

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.

2. 2

   Of a bird

   Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).

3. 3

   Of a bird or insect

   Of a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.

   • O'er the deer Corps ſomtimes her vvings ſhe [an eagle] hovers, / Somtimes the dead breſt vvith her breſt ſhe covers, […]
   • Thus have I lain conceal'd like a vvinter Fly, hoping for ſome bleſt Sun-Shine to vvarm me into Life again, and make me hover my flagging VVings; […]
4. ›+ 10 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To remain stationary or float in the air.

      • The hummingbird hovered by the plant.
      • Thus meerely vvith the garment of a grace, / The naked and concealed feind he couerd, / That th'vnexperient gaue the tempter place, / VVhich like a Cherubin aboue them houerd, / VVho young and ſimple vvould not be ſo louerd.
   2. 5

      Sometimes followed by over

      Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner.

      • His pen hovered above the paper.
      • The strange man hovered outside the gents’ toilet.
      • The visitors were hovering at the door, seemingly unwilling to enter.
   3. 6

      To be indecisive or uncertain

      To be indecisive or uncertain; to vacillate, to waver.

      • Filling in the voting form, I hovered between Labour and Liberal Democrat.
      • And the reason why the land-lord will no longer covenant with him [the husbandman], is, for that he dayly looketh after change and alteration, and hovereth in expectation of new worlds.
   4. 7

      Chiefly followed by over

      Chiefly followed by over: to use a mouse or other device to place a cursor over something on a screen such as a hyperlink or icon without clicking, so as to produce a result (such as the appearance of a tooltip).

      • A tooltip appears when you hover over this link.
   5. 8

      To travel in a hovercraft as it moves above a water surface.

   6. 9

      An act, or the state, of remaining stationary in the air or some other place.

   7. 10

      A flock of birds fluttering in the air in one place.

   8. 11

      An act, or the state, of being suspended

      An act, or the state, of being suspended; a suspension.

   9. 12

      A cover

      A cover; a protection; a shelter; specifically, an overhanging bank or stone under which fish can shelter; also, a shelter for hens brooding their eggs.

      • Oyſters grevv vpon boughs of trees (an Indian miracle) vvhich vvere caſt in [the pond] thither, to ſerue as a houer for the fiſh.
      • Without the instinct of self-preservation, which causes the sea-anemone to contract its tentacles, or the fish to dash into its hover, species would be extermined wholesale by involuntary suicide.
   10. 13

       A surname.

The neighborhood

• neighborhove