bove

B3O1V4E1
/bʌv/

preposition

Above.

OriginMiddle English bove ← Old English bufan ← Proto-West Germanic *biobanā →
UncommonScrabble 9
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Meanings

bove1

preposition

alternative 'bove

  1. colloquialdialectalAbove.

    Her Sea-god syre she dearely did perswade, T'endow her sonne with threasure and rich store, Boue all the sonnes, that were of earthly wombes ybore.

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Bove2

proper nounBove (plural Boves)

plural Boves

  1. A surname.

    Homan, who was on the ground in Chicago, maintained it was a “criminal operation.” Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove was also in Chicago on Sunday to observe immigration enforcement operations.

    2025 January 26, Priscilla Alvarez, Rosa Flores, “Trump administration launches nationwide immigration enforcement blitz”, in CNN, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2025

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*biobanā
  2. Old Englishbufan
  3. Middle Englishbove
  4. Englishbove

Probably an apheretic form of above. Alternatively, this word may continue Middle English bove, boven, from Old English bufan, from Proto-West Germanic *biobanā, from *bi (“by”) + *ufanā (“from above”). Compare West Frisian boppe, Dutch boven and Low German baven, boven.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Bevo
Cite this entry
APA

bove. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bove

MLA

“bove.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bove. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bove,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bove.

Source: bove on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.