hover

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

Noun

  1. An act, or the state, of remaining stationary in the air or some other place.
  2. A flock of birds fluttering in the air in one place.
  3. An act, or the state, of being suspended; a suspension.
  4. 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. - 1609, Richard Carew, “The Second Booke”, in The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon]...
    • And now, down the rushing stream, […] past dark hovers under swirling banks, from which great trout rushed out on Tom, thinking him to be good to eat, and turned back sulkily, for the fairies sent them home again with a...
    • 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. - 1874, Charles...

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English hoveren (“to float in the air, hover; to stay”), probably from hoven (“hover; of a bird: to fly high in the air, soar”) (which it displaced) + -er- (frequentative suffix). Hoven is probably derived from Old English *hōfian, from hōfon, the plural past indicative form of hebban (“to lift, raise”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift; to heave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to hold, seize”). The English word is analysable as hove (“(obsolete) to remain suspended, float, hover; to linger, wait”) + -er (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

Forms

hovers

Derived

hovercard hoverfly hover fly hover hand hover text

Verb

  1. To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.
  2. Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).
    • Castration has a ſtrange effect: it emaſculates both man, beaſt, and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. […] Capons have ſmall combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets;...
  3. 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, […] - 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World:...
    • 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; […] - 1686 (first performance), A[phra] Behn, The Luckey Chance, or An...
  4. To remain stationary or float in the air.
    • The hummingbird hovered by the plant.
    • [T]hough you go to Theaters to see sport, Cupid may cache you ere you departe. The little god hovereth aboute you, and fanneth you with his wings to kindle fire: when you are set as fixed whites, Desire draweth his...
    • 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...
  5. 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.

    Synonyms: wasp around

  6. 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. - 1596 (date written; published...
    • When the soul is hovering in the last moments of its separation, […] what can support her under such tremblings of thought, such fear, such anxiety, such apprehensions, but the casting of all her cares upon Him who...
  7. 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.
  8. To travel in a hovercraft as it moves above a water surface.

Forms

hovers hovering hovered no-table-tags glossary hover hoverest hoveredst hovereth -

Related

hove

Derived

hoverable hoverbarge hoverbike hoverboard hoverboat hovercam hovercar hoverchair hovercraft hovercycle hovered hoverer hover-height hovering hoveringly hoverjet hoverpack hoverport hoverslam hovertrain overhovering windhover