Adjacent Words

Covert definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COVERT, a.
1. Covered; hid; private; secret; concealed.
Whether of open war, or covert guile.
2. Disguised; insidious.
3. Sheltered; not open or exposed; as a covert alley, or place.
4. Under cover, authority or protection; as a feme-covert, a married woman who is considered as being under the influence and protection of her husband.
COVERT, n.
1. A covering, or covering place; a place which covers and shelters; a shelter; a defense.
A tabernacle--for a covert from storm and rain. Isaiah 4.
I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Psalms 111.
2. A thicket; a shady place, or a hiding place. 2 Samuel 25. Job 38.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; "covert actions by the CIA"; "covert funding for the rebels" [ant: open, overt]
2: (of a wife) being under the protection of her husband; "a woman covert" n
1: a flock of coots
2: a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something; "a screen of trees afforded privacy"; "under cover of darkness"; "the brush provided a covert for game"; "the simplest concealment is to match perfectly the color of the background" [syn: screen, cover, covert, concealment]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, past participle of coverir to cover Date: 14th century 1. not openly shown, engaged in, or avowed ; veiled <a covert alliance> 2. covered over ; sheltered Synonyms: see secret • covertly adverb • covertness noun II. noun Date: 14th century 1. a. hiding place ; shelter b. a thicket affording cover for game c. a masking or concealing device 2. a feather covering the bases of the quills of the wings and tail of a bird — see wing illustration 3. a firm durable twilled sometimes waterproofed cloth usually of mixed-color yarns

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. secret or disguised (a covert glance; covert operations). --n. 1 a shelter, esp. a thicket hiding game. 2 a feather covering the base of a bird's flight-feather. Phrases and idioms: covert coat a short, light, overcoat worn for shooting, riding, etc. Derivatives: covertly adv. covertness n. Etymology: ME f. OF covert past part. of covrir COVER

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Covert Cov"ert, n. [OF. See Covert, a.] 1. A place that covers and protects; a shelter; a defense. A tabernacle . . . for a covert from storm. --Is. iv. 6. The highwayman has darted from his covered by the wayside. --Prescott. 2. [Cf. F. couverte.] (Zo["o]l.) One of the special feathers covering the bases of the quills of the wings and tail of a bird. See Illust. of Bird.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Covert Cov"ert (k?v"?rt), a. [OF. covert, F. couvert, p. p. of couvrir. See Cover, v. t.] 1. Covered over; private; hid; secret; disguised. How covert matters may be best disclosed. --Shak. Whether of open war or covert guile. --Milton 2. Sheltered; not open or exposed; retired; protected; as, a covert nook. -- Wordsworth. Of either side the green, to plant a covert alley. --Bacon. 3. (Law) Under cover, authority or protection; as, a feme covert, a married woman who is considered as being under the protection and control of her husband. Covert way, (Fort.) See Covered way, under Covered. Syn: Hidden; secret; private; covered; disguised; insidious; concealed. See Hidden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Covert activities or situations are secret or hidden. (FORMAL) They have been supplying covert military aid to the rebels... ? overt ADJ: usu ADJ n • covertly They covertly observed Lauren, who was sitting between Ned and Algie at a nearby table. ? overtly ADV: usu ADV with v

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kuv'-ert: Now seldom used, except for game, and then generally spelt "cover." "A covered way" (2Ki 16:18 the King James Version); also a shelter of any kind (Isa 4:6); "a hiding place," "a lair," "a hut" (Job 38:40); "a place of secrecy," "a secret way" (1Sa 25:20; Job 40:21; Ps 61:4; Isa 16:4; 32:2); "a den," "a lair" (Jer 25:38).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Thicket, shade, shrubbery, underwood. 2. Shelter, refuge, asylum, harbor, sanctuary, retreat, defence, hiding-place. II. a. Hidden, concealed, secret, disguised, clandestine, underhand, sly, insidious, stealthy.

Moby Thesaurus

abri, abstruse, air-raid shelter, armored, asylum, back-door, backstairs, beclouded, between the lines, blanket, blind, bolt-hole, bomb shelter, bombproof, boscage, bosket, brake, bunker, buried, burrow, by stealth, cache, camouflaged, canebrake, cased, cave, ceiled, ceja, chamisal, chaparral, clandestine, cloak, cloaked, close, clouded, coat, coated, concealed, concealment, coped, coppice, copse, copsewood, corner, couch, cover, coverage, covered, covering, covertly, coverture, cowl, cowled, cowling, cranny, cryptic, cubby, cubbyhole, curtain, curtained, cyclone cellar, dark corner, delitescent, den, disguised, dormant, drape, drapery, dugout, earth, eclipsed, encapsulated, encapsuled, encased, enveloped, enwrapped, esoteric, fallout shelter, feather, feathers, feline, filmed, floored, form, foxhole, frith, funk hole, furtive, furtively, guarded, guise, hackle, hanging, harbor, harborage, haven, hibernating, hid, hidden, hideaway, hideout, hidey hole, hiding, hiding place, hidlings, hole, hole-and-corner, hood, hooded, housed, housing, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, in a cloud, in a fog, in camera, in eclipse, in purdah, in the wings, incommunicado, lair, latent, lodge, loricate, loricated, lurking, mail, mantle, mantled, mask, masked, mew, motte, muffled, mysterious, mystic, niche, nook, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, occult, occulted, packaged, pall, paved, plumage, port, possible, potential, privately, privy, quiet, recess, recondite, refuge, retreat, roofed-in, run, safety zone, sanctuary, screen, screened, scummed, secluded, secluse, secret, secret place, sequestered, sheathed, shelled, shelter, shield, shielded, shifty, shroud, shrouded, skulking, sleeping, slinking, slinky, sly, sneaking, sneaky, speculum, stash, stealthily, stealthy, storm cave, storm cellar, sub rosa, submerged, surreptitious, surreptitiously, swathed, tented, thicket, thickset, trench, tunnel, under an eclipse, under cover, under house arrest, under the surface, under wraps, under-the-counter, under-the-table, undercover, undercovert, underground, underhand, underhanded, underlying, unknown, unmanifested, unobtrusive, veil, veiled, vestment, virtual, walled, walled-in, wrapped, wrapped in clouds