covert
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English covert, from Old French covert, past participle of covrir (“to cover”) (corresponding to Latin coopertus); cognate to cover.
Pronunciation
[edit]- Adjective:
- Noun:
Adjective
[edit]covert (comparative more covert, superlative most covert)
- (figuratively) Secret, surreptitious, concealed.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:covert
- Antonym: overt
- covert operations
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
- how covert matters may be best disclosed
- 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- whether of open war or covert guile
- 2010 September 28, Marc Ambinder, “A Step Forward for Oversight of Intelligence”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- If the President were to inform the Gang of Eight that he signed a covert action finding to overthrow the government of Canada, he would be required to tell others at least something about the finding.
- 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly[2], volume 189, number 7, page 26:
- Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications.
- (now rare) Hidden, covered over; overgrown, sheltered.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Within that wood there was a covert glade,
Foreby a narrow foord, to them well knowne […]
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
- to plant a covert alley
- (law, historical) Under coverture.
- Synonym: covert baron
- 1880, Weekly Notes of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the County Courts of Philadelphia, and the United States District and Circuit Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, page 292:
- […] a separate use for a woman cannot be created unless she is covert, or unless in immediate contemplation of her marriage.
- 1890, Albert Gibson, Robert McLean, Law Notes, page 77:
- […] in the second case, as long as the woman is covert she cannot anticipate the income, and a mere alienation of her interest is not an attempt to anticipate.
- 1906, Abraham Clark Freeman, The American State Reports: Containing the Cases of General Value and Authority Subsequent to Those Contained in the "American Decisions" [1760-1869] and the "American Reports" [1869-1887] Decided in the Courts of Last Resort of the Several States [1886-1911], page 305:
- Being advised of the fact that the woman is covert, he stands charged with a knowledge of her disability . A married woman has no power to deal as principal if she is in fact a surety […]
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]secret
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Noun
[edit]covert (plural coverts)
- A covering.
- A disguise.
- A hiding place.
- Area of thick undergrowth where animals hide.
- (ornithology) A feather that covers the bases of flight feathers.
- 1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter I, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):
- When he felt the trappings being taken off him, so that he was in hunting order, Cully did make some movements as if to rouse. He raised his crest, his shoulder coverts and the soft feathers of his thighs.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]covering — see covering
disguise — see disguise
hiding place
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area of thick undergrowth for hiding
type of feather
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Anagrams
[edit]German
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]covert
- inflection of covern:
Old French
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Verb
[edit]covert
- past participle of covrir
Descendants
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ʌvə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ʌvə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with collocations
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Law
- English terms with historical senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Ornithology
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French non-lemma forms
- Old French past participles