How do you use the word "hover" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "hover": The helicopter is at a hover. "When you're ready, pick it up and hover over to the helipad."

Hover Meaning

/ˈhɒvə/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

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

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

Sentence Examples

The helicopter is at a hover.

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

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

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

linger vibrate vacillate

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

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

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

I watched the colorful hummingbird ____ in the air while it sipped nectar from the flower.

Word Origin & History

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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Castration has a ſtrange effect: it emaſculates both man, beaſt, and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. […] Capons have ſmall combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets; they alſo vvalk vvithout any parade, and hover chickens like hens." — 1789, Gil[bert] White, “Letter XXXII. To the Same.”, in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton: […], London: […] T[homas] Bensley; for B[enjamin] White and Son, […], →OCLC, page 212:

"O'er the deer Corps ſomtimes her vvings ſhe [an eagle] hovers, / Somtimes the dead breſt vvith her breſt ſhe covers, […]" — 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Fift Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 142:

"Thus have I lain conceal'd like a vvinter Fly, hoping for ſome bleſt Sun-Shine to vvarm me into Life again, and make me hover my flagging VVings; […]" — 1686 (first performance), A[phra] Behn, The Luckey Chance, or An Alderman’s Bargain. A Comedy. […], London: […] R. H[olt], for W. Canning, […], published 1687, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 5:

"[T]hough you go to Theaters to see sport, Cupid may cache you ere you departe. The little god hovereth aboute you, and fanneth you with his wings to kindle fire: when you are set as fixed whites, Desire draweth his arrow to the head, and sticketh it uppe to the fethers, and Fancy bestireth him to shed his poyson through every vayne." — 1579, Stephen Gosson, “The Schoole of Abuse, […]”, in The School of Abuse, Containing a Pleasant Invective against Poets, Pipers, Players, Jesters, &c. […], London: […] [Frederic Shoberl, Jun.] for the Shakespeare Society, published 1841, →OCLC, page 49:

"Thus meerely vvith the garment of a grace, / The naked and concealed feind he couerd, / That th'vnexperient gaue the tempter place, / VVhich like a Cherubin aboue them houerd, / VVho young and ſimple vvould not be ſo louerd." — 1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature L2, verso:

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