cover

plural covers

1. countableuncountableA lid.
2. uncountableArea or situation which screens a person or thing from view.

   The soldiers took cover behind a ruined building.

3. countableuncountableThe front and back of a book, magazine, CD package, etc.
4. countableuncountableThe top sheet of a bed.
5. countableuncountableA cloth or similar material, often fitted, placed over an item such as a car or sofa or food to protect it from dust, rain, insects, etc. when not being used.
6. IndiacountableuncountableA bag or packet.
7. countableuncountableA cover charge.

   There's a $15 cover tonight.

8. countableuncountableA setting at a restaurant table or formal dinner.

   We need to set another cover for the Smith party.

   1 more example

   When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

9. countableuncountableentertainmentA new performance or rerecording of a previously recorded song; a cover version; a cover song.
10. countableuncountableball gamesA fielding position on the off side, between point and mid off, about 30° forward of square; a fielder in this position.

    The captain signalled his best fielder from short leg to cover.

11. countableuncountableball gamesA tarpaulin or other device used to cover the wicket during rain, to prevent it getting wet.

    The covers were put on just before lunch.

12. countableuncountableball gamesThe area of the stumps that is blocked by the batsman so as to defend the wicket.
13. countableuncountableball gamesA backup incase any player sustains injury during nets or midseries. Originally have to be declared part of squad before match.

    He was brought in as cover for wicketkeeper.

14. countableuncountablecombinatoricsA collection (or family) of subsets of a given set, whose union contains every element of said original set.

    The open intervals are a cover for the real numbers.

15. countableuncountablehobbiesAn envelope complete with stamps and postmarks etc.
16. countableuncountablegovernmentA solid object, including terrain, that provides protection from enemy fire.
17. countableuncountablelawIn commercial law, a buyer’s purchase on the open market of goods similar or identical to the goods contracted for after a seller has breached a contract of sale by failure to deliver the goods contracted for.
18. countableuncountablebusinessAn insurance contract; coverage by an insurance contract.
19. countableuncountableespionageA persona maintained by a spy or undercover operative; cover story.
20. countabledateduncountableA swindler's confederate.
21. countableuncountableThe portion of a slate, tile, or shingle that is hidden by the overlap of the course above.
22. countableuncountableIn a steam engine, the lap of a slide valve.
23. countableuncountablebusinessThe distance between reinforcing steel and the exterior of concrete.

1. not comparableOf or pertaining to the front cover of a book or magazine.
2. not comparableentertainmentOf, pertaining to, or consisting of cover versions.

present singular third person covers · participle present covering · participle past covered · past covered · first person past singular covered · archaic present second person singular coverest · past second person singular covered · archaic past second person singular coveredst · present singular third person covers · archaic present singular third person covereth · past singular third person covered · past plural covered · past subjunctive covered · participle present covering · participle past covered

1. transitiveTo place something over or upon, as to conceal or protect.

   He covered the baby with a blanket.

   1 more example

   When the pot comes to a boil, cover it and reduce the heat to medium.

   Synonyms: bury, overlay

2. transitiveTo be over or upon, as to conceal or protect.

   The blanket covered the baby.

   2 more examples

   A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

   1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016

   Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—[…]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.

   2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200

3. transitiveTo be upon all of, so as to completely conceal.

   Regular hexagons can cover the plane.

4. transitiveTo set upon all of, so as to completely conceal.

   You can cover the plane with regular hexagons.

5. datedintransitiveTo put on one's hat.

   All the while he held his hat in his hand; and even until he had given his answer, when he covered and bade us be.

   1904, Rawdon Lubbock Brown, Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts

6. transitiveTo invest (oneself with something); to bring upon (oneself).

   The heroic soldier covered himself with glory.

   1 more example

   the powers that covered themselves with everlasting infamy by the partition of Poland

   1842, Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy

7. To have under one’s scope or purview.
   1. transitiveTo discuss thoroughly; to provide coverage of.

      The magazine covers such diverse topics as politics, news from the world of science, and the economy.

   2. transitiveTo deal with or include someone or something.

      Richard Morgan covers science for The Economist, The New York Times, Scientific American, and Wired.

      2010 (publication date), "Contributors", Discover, ISSN 0274-7529, volume 32, number 1, January–February 2011, page 7

   3. transitiveTo have as an assignment or responsibility.

      Can you cover the morning shift tomorrow? I'll give you off next Monday instead.

      1 more example

      He is our salesman covering companies with headquarters in the northern provinces.

   4. transitiveTo provide insurance coverage for.

      Does my policy cover accidental loss?

8. transitiveTo be enough money for.

   Ten dollars should cover lunch.

   1 more example

   We've earned enough to cover most of our costs.

9. transitiveTo supply with funds; to settle or pay the costs for; to foot the bill for.

   Dad, when I get to University, will I be covered?

10. intransitiveTo act as a replacement.

    I need to take off Tuesday. Can you cover for me?

11. transitivebroadcastingTo air or run locally originated material in place of network material during an internal spot break in a syndicated program.

    I wish that popular afternoon show would let us cover some of their commercials – their national stuff can be so annoying.

12. transitiveentertainmentTo make a cover version of (a song that was originally recorded by another artist).

    I'm surprised that the band covered this Beatles song so well.

13. To protect, to guard.
    1. transitiveTo protect from attack in general, to guard.

       Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor Epitome of Roman Greatneſs, And, cover’d with Numidian Guards, directs A feeble Army, and an empty Senate, Remnants of mighty Battels fought in vain.

       1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2

    2. transitivegovernmentTo protect using an aimed firearm and the threat of firing; or to protect using continuous, heaving fire at or in the direction of the enemy so as to force the enemy to remain in cover; or to threaten using an aimed firearm.
    3. transitiveboard gamesTo protect or control (a piece or square).

       In order to checkmate a king on the side of the board, the five squares adjacent to the king must all be covered.

    4. transitivehobbiesTo defend (mark) a particular player or area.
    5. transitiveTo provide an alibi for (someone); to provide excuses or apologia for (someone); to carry water for someone.
14. transitiveTo copulate with (said of certain male animals such as dogs and horses).

    The stallion has not covered the mare yet.

    2 more examples

    I would like to have my bitch covered next spring.

    Among animals in a domesticated or confined state it is easy to find evidence of homosexual attraction, due merely to the absence of the other sex. This was known to the ancients; the Egyptians regarded two male partridges as the symbol of homosexuality, and Aristotle noted that two female pigeons would cover each other if no male was at hand.

    1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)

    Synonyms: impregnate

15. transitiveTo extend over a given period of time or range, to occupy, to stretch over a given area.
16. transitiveTo traverse or put behind a certain distance.

    It had covered better than 840 miles in just a few hours more than seven days.32 The apparently clumsily managed shuffle through the various railroad nets ...

    1989, Robert K. Krick, Parker's Virginia Battery, C.S.A.

    1 more example

    November 22 — Owing to bad weather all machines flew at a height of 5,000 feet and covered the 90 miles in just 90 minutes . November 23 — During fourth lap ...

    1915, Aerial Age

17. ambitransitivedatedTo arrange plates, etc. on (a table) in preparation for a meal.

    […] the chef can send a runner to see why not and if the waiter has forgotten about the order, a runner can cover and serve.

    1989, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, volume 180, page 83

    1 more example

    […] he told plaintiff he would cover the table, and furnish it the same as the one he was sitting at, and that he should be waited upon and served the same as those on the other side of the room.

    1892, George Chase, Leading Cases Upon the Law of Torts, page 46

    Synonyms: lay the table, set the table

1. A surname.
2. A river in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England, which joins the River Ure; in full, the River Cover.