hover

CEFRC1

/ˈhɒvə/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To stay in one place in the air.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).

Examples

  • Helicopter parents are parents that hover over their children like helicopters.

  • "When you're ready, pick it up and hover over to the helipad."

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /ˈhavə/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.

  2. To remain stationary or float in the air.

  3. Of a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.

More examples

In context

  • The helicopter is at a hover.

  • The strange man hovered outside the gents’ toilet.

  • His pen hovered above the paper.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The helicopter continued to blank above the landing pad for several minutes.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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.