dovecote

English

WOTD – 24 December 2011

A dovecote (1) with birds

Alternative forms

• dovecot

Etymology

Compound of dove +‎ cote.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌv.kɒt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌv.kɑt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

dovecote (plural dovecotes)

1. A small house or box, raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments, in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house.

   Synonyms: columbarium, (Scotland) doocot, dovehouse

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 30:

     If you haue writ your Annales true, 'tis there, / That like an Eagle in a Doue-cote, I / Flutter'd your Volcians in Corioles.

   • 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, page 2:

     she could see the malt-house with its dovecote

2. (historical) In medieval Europe, a round or square structure of stone or wood, free-standing or built into a tower, in which pigeons were kept.

Related terms

• flutter in the dovecote
• dove

Translations

house or box in which domestic pigeons breed

• Basque: usategi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鴿棚／鸽棚 (zh), 鸽棚 (zh) (gēpéng)

• Classical Nahuatl: huīlōcalli
• Dutch: duiventil (nl) m, duivenkot (nl) n
• Esperanto: kolombejo
• Finnish: kyyhkyslakka (fi)
• French: colombier (fr) m
• Galician: pombal m
• German: Taubenhaus (de) n
• Greek: περιστερώνας (el) m (peristerónas)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: galambdúc (hu)
• Irish: colmlann f
• Latin: columbārium n
• Lithuanian: karvelidė f
• Norman: colombyi m (Jersey)
• Polish: gołębnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: pombal m
• Romanian: porumbar (ro) m, porumbărie (ro) f
• Russian: голубя́тня (ru) f (golubjátnja)
• Serbo-Croatian: golubarnik (sh)
• Spanish: palomar m
• Tagalog: bahay-kalapati
• Volapük: pijunöp, pejilitöp (obsolete)