Drove vs Covey - What's the difference?
drove | covey | Related terms |
A number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.
(usually, in the plural) A large number of people on the move (literally or figuratively).
A road or track along which cattle are habitually driven
(drive).
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.}}
To herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.
A group of 8-12 (or more) quail. See gaggle, host, flock.
A brood of partridges, grouse, etc.
A party or group (of persons or things).
* 1906 , O. Henry,
* 1982 , (Lawrence Durrell), Constance'', Faber & Faber 2004 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 736
To brood; to incubate.
* Holland
* 1869 , Florida. Commissioner of Lands and Immigration, Florida: Its Climate, Soil, and Productions (page 108)
(British, slang, dated) A man.
* 1846 , Justin Jones, The prince and the queen; or, Scenes in high life
* 1850 , Waldo Howard, The mistake of a life-time, or, The robber of the Rhine (page 140)
* 1851 , William Thomas Moncrieff, Selections from the dramatic works of William T. Moncrieff
Drove is a related term of covey.
As nouns the difference between drove and covey
is that drove is a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures while covey is a group of 8-12 (or more) quail see gaggle, host, flock or covey can be (british|slang|dated) a man.As verbs the difference between drove and covey
is that drove is (drive) while covey is to brood; to incubate.drove
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) drove, drof, draf, from (etyl) . More at (l).Noun
(en noun)- 2009',
Erik Zachte
: ''New editors are joining English Wikipedia in '''droves !
Derived terms
* in drovesEtymology 2
From earlier drave, from (etyl) drave, draf, from (etyl) .Verb
(drov)Anagrams
* * English irregular simple past formscovey
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia covey) (en noun)- The store is on a corner about which coveys of ragged-plumed, hilarious children play and become candidates for the cough drops and soothing syrups that wait for them inside.
- A covey of grey soldiers clanked down the platform at the double with their equipment and embarked, but in absolute silence, which seemed to them very singular.
Verb
(en verb)- [Tortoises] covey a whole year before they hatch.
- There is a duck called the raft duck, because it is so numerous, coveying together in "whole rafts."
References
* 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192830988Etymology 2
Noun
(en noun)- 'Pooh!' said he, 'you are as easily wounded as an unfledged dove — don't mind what an old covey like me says — I understand it all.'
- There vas an old covey as lived in Wapping, at the time I'm telling you of, who vas connected vith us by ties of common interest.
- I don't know what would become of these here young chaps, if it wasn't for such careful old coveys as we are—