hover

(huv’ér or hov’ér), v. [ (rare), wait, linger; freq. of hoven, wait: see hove1.| I, in trans. 1. To keep lingering about; wait near at hand; move about waveringly, cautiously, or hesitatingly; go to and fro near or about a place or an object. This fleete howered about the Streights of Gibralter. Hakluyt’s Voyages, 11. 286. They rade their horse, they ran their horse, Then hover’d on the lee. Auld Maitland (Child's Ballads, VI. 229), Straight hover round the fair her airy band. ope, R. of the L., iii, 113, 2905 What haunting harmonies hover around us deep and eternal like the undying barytone of the sea. Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 240. 2. To hang fluttering in the air, as a bird or an insect while seeking food or a place to alight; linger over or about a place or an object. Those cloudes, that are continually hovering about the Alpes. Coryat, Crudities, I. 86. So numberle were those bad angels seen, Hovering on wing under the cope of hell. Milton, P. L., i, 345. ““What mean,” said I, “ those great flights of birds that are hovering about the bridge, and settling upon it from time to time?” Add is on, 8. To be in an indeterminate or irresolute state; stand in suspense or expectation; waver as to a decision or a result: as, a patient hovering between life and death; a mind hovering on the verge of madne , He dayly looketh after chaunges and alterations, and hovereth in expectation of newe worldes. Spenser, State of Ireland. Her thoughts ten you sand sweets exam in’d, and Hover'd in gazing doubt which to prefer. J. Beaumont, Psyche, iy. 237. II, trans. To protect or shelter; cover with the wings and body: said of a brooding fowl: as, a hen with more chickens than she can hover. hover (huv’ér or hoy’ér), ». [A var. of hovel, with ref. to the related hover, v.] 1+. A protection or shelter. Oysters grew upon the boughs of trees, which were cast in thither to serve as a hover for the fish. R, Carew, Survey of Cornwall, fol. 105. 2. In pros.,a foot consisting of mere accentual place. [Rare.] Nothing of the nature of the hover is met with, every succe ive step being invariably accented, whether falling on words ordinarily capable or not. E, Wadham, Eng. Versification, p. 38. hoverer (huv’- or hov’ér-ér),. 1. One who or that which hovers. About him flew the clamours of the dead, Like fowles, and still stoopt cuffing at his head. He with his bow, like Night, stalkt vp and downe, His shaft still nockt: and, hurling round his frowne At those vext houerers, aiming at them still. Chapman, Ody ey, xi. 2. An artificial ‘‘ mother” or warmed shelter box for young chicks; a brooder. hover-groundt (huy ’ ér-ground), N. Light ground. Ray.