cover English · revision 3385

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1150|origins=la operīre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈkʌv.ə/, US /ˈkʌv.ɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|coveren]], [[bor|fro|covrir|t=to cover, protect, conceal]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) from [[la-lat|coperīre]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|cooperīre|t=to cover completely]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) from [[m|la|co-]], an intensive prefix, and [[m|la|operīre|t=to close, cover]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(Cresswell 2021) from *op-werīre,^(Klein 1966)^(Barnhart 1988) with [[m|la|ob|t=toward]],^(Klein 1966) from [[ine-pro|*wer-|t=to cover]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) [[covert]] is from the same root.^(Cresswell 2021) The noun is from the verb, and partly a variant of covert.^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “To protect or shelter”: about 1150,^(Barnhart 1988) or the mid-12th century, “to protect from harm”.^(Etymonline) The OED's first quotation for “to put something over” is from before 1300.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “To hide, screen” is from about 1300, and “to spread over the whole of a surface” from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) Of a male animal, “to copulate with”, it is from the 1530s.^(Etymonline) Military “to aim at” is from the 1680s,^(Etymonline) “to travel over a distance” from 1818,^(Etymonline) and “to be enough for, compensate” by 1828.^(Etymonline) “To include, deal with” is by 1868, and the newspaper sense, to report on an event, from 1893.^(Etymonline) In betting, to cover is to match a stake, by 1857.^(Etymonline) “To stand in for an absent colleague” is by 1970.^(Etymonline) The noun, a thing laid over something, is from the mid-14th century,^(Etymonline) shelter from about 1500,^(Etymonline) and in hunting, the thickets that hide game, from 1719.^(Etymonline) The binding of a book is from the 1590s.^(Etymonline) A recording of a song already recorded by another is by 1970, short for ''cover version'', from 1966.^(Etymonline) The ''cover charge'', by 1913, keeps an old sense of ''cover'', the place setting of one diner, from French couvert.^(Etymonline)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1150 – to protect, shelter.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – to hide.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-14th century – noun, a covering.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1590s – a book cover.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1680s – to aim a gun at.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1719 – cover for game.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1818 – to travel over.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1893 – to report on.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1913 – ''cover charge''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1966 – ''cover version''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To put something over or upon, so as to protect or hide it.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To spread over the surface of.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To deal with or include: ''the book covers the war''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To travel over a distance.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To report on for the news.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To be enough to pay for; to [[insure]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To protect by aiming a weapon; to aim at.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To stand in for someone who is absent.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To record or perform a song first recorded by another.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something that covers, such as a lid or a book's binding.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # [[shelter|alt=Shelter]] or protection: ''take cover''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Something that hides or disguises: ''a cover story''.^(AHD)

+ # A place setting at table.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # A [[cover version]] of a song.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coverable]]

+ * [[coverer]]

+ * [[coverless]]

+ * [[coverage]]

+ * [[cut-and-cover]]

+ * [[discover]]

+ * [[recover]]

+ * [[uncover]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[covert]]

+ * [[coverlet]]

+ * [[kerchief]]

+ * [[curfew]]

+ * [[operculum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The SOED records a separate ''cover'', “to get, gain”, from Old English ācofrian, an aphetic form of [[recover]], long obsolete except in dialect,^(SOED 2002) and in Cumberland and Yorkshire dialect ''cover'' meant “to recover damages; to recover from sickness”.^(Wright 1898) A coverlet is not a little cover but comes from Old French covre-lit, “bed covering”.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}