From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cover \Cov"er\ (k?v"?r), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Covered} (-?rd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Covering}.] [OF. covrir, F. couvrir, fr. L. cooperire; co- + operire to cover; probably fr. ob towards, over + the root appearing in aperire to open. Cf. {Aperient}, {Overt}, {Curfew}.]
1. To overspread the surface of (one thing) with another; as, to cover wood with paint or lacquer; to cover a table with a cloth.
2. To envelop; to clothe, as with a mantle or cloak.
And with the majesty of darkness round Covers his throne. --Milton.
All that beauty than doth cover thee. --Shak.
3. To invest (one's self with something); to bring upon (one's self); as, he covered himself with glory.
The powers that covered themselves with everlasting infamy by the partition of Poland. --Brougham.
4. To hide sight; to conceal; to cloak; as, the enemy were covered from our sight by the woods.
A cloud covered the mount. --Exod. xxiv. 15.
In vain shou striv'st to cover shame with shame. --Milton.
5. To brood or sit on; to incubate.
While the hen is covering her eggs, the male . . . diverts her with his songs. --Addison.
6. To overwhelm; to spread over.
The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen. --Ex. xiv. 28.
7. To shelter, as from evil or danger; to protect; to defend; as, the cavalry covered the retreat.
His calm and blameless life Does with substantial blessedness abound, And the soft wings of peace cover him round. --Cowley.
8. To remove from remembrance; to put away; to remit. ''Blessed is he whose is covered.'' --Ps. xxxii. 1.
9. To extend over; to be sufficient for; to comprehend, include, or embrace; to account for or solve; to counterbalance; as, a mortgage which fully covers a sum loaned on it; a law which covers all possible cases of a crime; receipts than do not cover expenses.
10. To put the usual covering or headdress on.
Cover thy head . . .; nay, prithee, be covered. --Shak.
11. To copulate with (a female); to serve; as, a horse covers a mare; -- said of the male.
{To cover ground} or {To cover distance}, to pass over; as, the rider covered the ground in an hour.
{To cover one's short contracts} (Stock Exchange), to buy stock when the market rises, as a dealer who has sold short does in order to protect himself.
{Covering party} (Mil.), a detachment of troops sent for the protection of another detachment, as of men working in the trenches.
{To cover into}, to transfer to; as, to cover into the treasury.
Syn: To shelter; screen; shield; hide; overspread.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Covering \Cov"er*ing\, noun Anything which covers or conceals, as a roof, a screen, a wrapper, clothing, etc.
Noah removed the covering of the ark. --Gen. viii. 13.
They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. --Job. xxiv. 7.
A covering over the well's mouth. --2 Sam. xvii. 19.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a natural object that covers or envelops; "under a covering of dust"; "the fox was flushed from its cover" [syn: {natural covering}, {cover}]
2: an artifact that covers something else (usually to protect or shelter or conceal it)
3: the act of concealing the existence of something by obstructing the view of it; "the cover concealed their guns from enemy aircraft" [syn: {cover}, {screening}, {masking}]
4: the act of protecting something by covering it
5: the work of applying something; "the doctor prescribed a topical application of iodine"; "a complete bleach requires several applications"; "the surface was ready for a coating of paint"; [syn: {application}, {coating}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
187 Moby Thesaurus words for "covering": assimilating, bigness, blanket, blanketing, border, brooding, burial, burying, calcimining, circumference, cloak, cloaking, clouding, coat, coating, collop, comprising, concealedness, concealing, concealment, containing, cortex, counting, cover, coverage, covering up, covert, covertness, coverture, cowl, cowling, crust, curtain, curtaining, custodial, cut, darkening, deal, deception, defensive, disk, drape, drapery, embracing, enameling, encircling, enclosing, encompassing, envelope, enveloping, envisaging, epidermis, exterior, external, facade, face, facet, feuille, film, flap, foil, fold, fostering, fresco, fringe, front, gestation, gilding, glazing, glossing, gravidity, gravidness, greatness, guardian, guarding, guise, hanging, heaviness, hiddenness, hiding, hood, housing, immunizing, including, inclusive, incorporating, incubation, integument, interment, invisibility, japanning, lamella, lamina, laminated glass, laminated wood, lap, leaf, lineaments, mantle, mask, masking, membrane, mystification, nonrevealing, numbering, obscuration, obscurement, obscuring, occultation, outer face, outer layer, outer side, outer skin, outline, outside, painting, pall, pane, panel, parental, patina, peel, pellicle, periphery, plait, plank, plate, plating, ply, plywood, pregnancy, preventive, priming, prophylactic, protecting, protective, putting away, rasher, rind, safeguarding, safety glass, screen, screening, scum, secrecy, secretion, shading, sheathing, sheet, shell, shellacking, shelter, sheltering, shield, shielding, shroud, shrouding, sitting, skin, slab, slat, slice, staining, stippling, subterfuge, superficies, superstratum, surface, table, tablet, the family way, top, tutelary, uncommunicativeness, undercoating, undisclosing, unrevealing, varnishing, veil, veiling, veneer, vestment, vigilant, wafer, watchful, whitewashing, wrapping
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