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Ebb vs Cove - What's the difference?

ebb | cove |

As a noun ebb

is the receding movement of the tide.

As a verb ebb

is to flow back or recede.

As an adjective ebb

is low, shallow.

As a proper noun cove is

a town in arkansas.

ebb

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The receding movement of the tide.
    • The boats will go out on the ebb .
  • * (rfdate) Shelley
    • Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow / Claspest the limits of morality!
  • A gradual decline.
  • * (rfdate) Roscommon
    • Thus all the treasure of our flowing years, / Our ebb of life for ever takes away.
  • A low state; a state of depression.
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
    • Painting was then at its lowest ebb .
  • * 2002 , (Joyce Carol Oates), The New Yorker , 22 & 29 April
    • A "lowest ebb'" implies something singular and finite, but for many of us, born in the Depression and raised by parents distrustful of fortune, an "' ebb " might easily have lasted for years.
  • A European bunting, .

    • Derived terms

    * ebb and flow * ebb tide

    Antonyms

    * flood * flow

    Related terms

    * tide

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to flow back or recede
    • The tides ebbed at noon .
  • to fall away or decline
    • The dying man's strength ebbed away .
  • to fish with stakes and nets that serve to prevent the fish from getting back into the sea with the ebb
  • To cause to flow back.
    • (Ford)

    Synonyms

    ebb away, ebb down, ebb off, ebb out, reflux, wane

    Adjective

    (er)
  • low, shallow
    • The water there is otherwise very low and ebb . (Holland)
    ----

    cove

    English

    (wikipedia cove)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) cofa, from (etyl) . Cognate with German Koben, Swedish kofva. This word has probably survived as long as it has due to its coincidental phonetic resemblence to the unrelated word "cave".

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (architecture) A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.
  • A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds.
  • * Holland
    • vessels which were in readiness for him within secret coves and nooks
  • (US) A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
  • A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.
  • (nautical) The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.
  • (nautical) A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.

    • Verb

    (cov)
  • (architecture) To arch over; to build in a hollow concave form; to make in the form of a cove.
  • * H. Swinburne
    • The mosques and other buildings of the Arabians are rounded into domes and coved roofs.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Perhaps change in consonants due to lower class th-fronting.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British) A fellow; a man.
  • (Australia) A friend; a mate.
    • Derived terms
    * Abram cove * badge-cove * bang up cove

    Etymology 3

    Compare (etyl) couver, (etyl) covare. See covey.

    Verb

    (cov)
  • To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs.
  • * Holland
    • Not being able to cove or sit upon them [eggs], she [the female tortoise] bestoweth them in the gravel.
    ----