dove - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

A rock dove (Columba livia)

Proto-West Germanic *dūbā

English dove

From Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūbā, from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove, pigeon”).

Cognate with Scots doo, dow, Saterland Frisian Duuwe, West Frisian do, Dutch duif, Afrikaans duif, Sranan Tongo doifi, German Taube, German Low German Duuv, Dutch Low Saxon duve, doeve, Danish due, Faroese dúgva, Icelandic dúfa, Norwegian Bokmål due, Norwegian Nynorsk due, Swedish duva, Yiddish טויב (toyb), Gothic *𐌳𐌿𐌱𐍉 (*dubō).

dove (countable and uncountable, plural doves)

  1. (countable) A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than 300 species of the family Columbidae.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:columbid
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 77:
      Dove's brains have been prepared by chefs for amorous expectations.
  2. (countable, politics) A person favouring conciliation and negotiation rather than conflict.
    Synonym: peace dove
    Antonym: hawk
    • 1965 November 19, “Universities: The Spectrum on Viet Nam”, in Time, volume 86, number 21, page 67:
      On the left are the activist Vietniks, eager to protest the war; next are the doves, who oppose the U.S. role but shun demonstrations; and in the middle are the apathetics, who simply are not concerned enough to think through their own stand.
  3. (countable) Term of endearment for one regarded as pure and gentle.
  4. A greyish, bluish, pinkish colour like that of the bird.
  5. (slang, countable) Ellipsis of love dove (“tablet of the drug ecstasy”).

bird of the family Columbidae, especially one smaller than a pigeon — see also pigeon

politics: person favouring conciliation

term of endearment

A modern formation of the strong conjugation, by analogy with drive → drove and weave → wove.

dove

  1. (chiefly Canada, US; dialectal in the UK) simple past of dive
    • 2007: Bob Harris, Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide, §: Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d’Ivoire, page 80, ¶ 4 (first edition; Three Rivers Press; →ISBN
      When coffee and cocoa prices unexpectedly dove, Côte d’Ivoire quickly went from Africa’s rich kid to crippling debtitude.
  2. (nonstandard) past participle of dive

From doof +‎ -e.

dove m or f by sense (plural doven, no diminutive)

  1. a deaf person
    Synonym: doveman

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

dove

  1. inflection of doof:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

dove

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of doven

From Latin doga, from Ancient Greek δοχή (dokhḗ), from Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-éh₂. Compare Italian doga, Venetan dova, doa, French douve.

dove f (plural dovis)

  1. stave

From Latin dē ubi (“from where, whence”), or from a strengthening of the older form ove with a prothetic d-. Compare Piedmontese doa, French d'où.

dove

  1. where
    Lo troverai dove l'hai lasciato. ― You'll find it where you left it.

dove

  1. (interrogative) where, whereabouts
    Dove vai? ― Where are you going?
    Dove vivi? ― Whereabouts do you live?

dove

  1. alternative form of douve

dove

  1. neuter singular of doven