hover

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hoveren, a frequentative from Middle English hoven (“to hover, tarry, linger”) + -er,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} which it replaced.^[8][9] The OED calls the origin uncertain: the word is not known before 1400, was little used before the 16th century, and may be an iterative derivative of hove, like flutter, especially if its historical pronunciation was /ˈhʌvə(r)/.^[8] The origin of hoven itself is unknown.^{[8][4][5][10]} The MED suggests an unrecorded Old English *hōfian, or a new Middle English formation on hōfon, the past plural of hebban (“to lift”), the source of heave;^[6] Wiktionary takes the same view and traces hebban to Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, heave”),^[11] and Skeat compares heave too.^[12] The OED rejects a link with hof (“hall, dwelling”), since rhymes and the Scots forms show that the vowel of hoven was long.^[8] Partridge derived hoven from Middle Dutch hoven (“to dwell, linger”) or Middle Low German hoven.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a bird, to hang in the air over a spot: about 1400, in Mandeville's Travels, where birds of prey hover over the dead.^[8][6] Barnhart cites Lydgate's Troy Book, about 1400, and dates hoven to 1250, in the Bestiary.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century hover took over from hove, which had been common from the 13th century, often of ships at anchor or standing off a coast;^[8][9] Weekley notes that hover too was at first chiefly a nautical word.^[14] The sense of remaining suspended spread from birds to clouds (1578), and figuratively to people who linger about a place or wait near at hand (1591).^[8] An older sense, to tarry or hesitate (c. 1440–1574), gave way to that of wavering in suspense or indecision (c. 1620).^[8] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "to hang in the air overhead" and "to stand in suspense or expectation".^[15] In the 20th century the verb was used of helicopters (from 1892, of aircraft in general) and hovercraft (1962),^[8] and since 1986 in computing, of holding the mouse pointer over a part of the screen.^[8][16] The noun hover is recorded from 1513, in Gavin Douglas, for a state of suspense,^[8][5] and since 1602 for an overhanging bank or stone under which a fish can hide, a sense now dialectal.^[8][3][17] In American drug slang a hover is ten dollars' worth of crack cocaine (1992).^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – of a bird, to hang in the air over a spot.^[8][5]
• c. 1440 – to tarry or linger (obsolete by 1574).^[8]
• 1513 – noun, a state of suspense.^[8][5]
• 1578 – of clouds, to float in the air.^[8]
• 1591 – to linger about a person or place.^[8]
• 1602 – noun, a shelter for fish under a bank.^[8]
• c. 1620 – to waver in indecision.^[8]
• 1789 – to brood over young.^[8]
• 1892 – of an aircraft, to stay still in the air.^[8]
• 1962 – of a hovercraft, to ride on its air cushion.^[8]
• 1986 – computing, to hold the mouse pointer over something.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stay in one place in the air, as a hawk does by rapidly beating its wings, or a helicopter: A kestrel hovered above the verge.^[16][3][8]
2. To remain floating or suspended over or about a place: Mist hovered over the lake.^[3][16]
3. To linger near someone or something, often anxiously or in readiness: The waiter hovered by our table.^[16][3][8]
4. To be in a state of uncertainty or indecision; to waver: She hovered between the two job offers.^[16][3][8]
5. (computing) To hold the mouse pointer over an area of a screen without clicking, so that a menu or information appears.^[16][8]

Noun

1. The act or state of hovering.^[16][3][8]
2. (dialect) An overhanging bank, stone or hedge giving shelter, especially one under which a fish can hide.^[3][8][17]

Word family

• hoverer
• hoveringly
• hovercraft
• windhover
• hoverfly

Related words

• hove
• heave

Usage notes

A dialect adjective hover, light and loose, used in Kent of hops loosely packed and of soil, is recorded from 1669; the OED gives it a separate, uncertain source, perhaps the verb hove "to swell".^[8][17] Johnson (1755) derived the verb from Welsh,^[15] but Skeat held that Welsh hofio (“to hover”) was itself borrowed from Middle English.^[12] The OED gives both /ˈhɒvə/ and /ˈhʌvə/ for British English.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com