hover

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).

   Castration has a ſtrange effect: it emaſculates both man, beaſt, and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. […] Capons have ſmall combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets; they alſo vvalk vvithout any parade, and hover chickens like hens.

2. 2
   verb

   Of a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.

   O'er the deer Corps ſomtimes her vvings ſhe [an eagle] hovers, / Somtimes the dead breſt vvith her breſt ſhe covers, […]

3. 3
   verb

   To remain stationary or float in the air.

   The hummingbird hovered by the plant.

4. 4
   verb

   Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner.

   His pen hovered above the paper.

5. 5
   verb

   To be indecisive or uncertain; to vacillate, to waver.

   Filling in the voting form, I hovered between Labour and Liberal Democrat.

6. 6
   verb

   Chiefly followed by over: to use a mouse or other device to place a cursor over something on a screen such as a hyperlink or icon without clicking, so as to produce a result (such as the appearance of a tooltip).

   A tooltip appears when you hover over this link.

7. 7
   noun

   A cover; a protection; a shelter; specifically, an overhanging bank or stone under which fish can shelter; also, a shelter for hens brooding their eggs.

   Oyſters grevv vpon boughs of trees (an Indian miracle) vvhich vvere caſt in [the pond] thither, to ſerue as a houer for the fiſh.

8. 8
   verb

   hang in the air

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English hoveren (“to float in the air, hover; to stay”), probably from hoven (“hover; of a bird: to fly high in the air, soar”) (which it displaced) + -er- (frequentative suffix). Hoven is probably derived from Old English *hōfian, from hōfon, the plural past indicative form of hebban (“to lift, raise”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift; to heave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to hold, seize”). The English word is analysable as hove (“(obsolete) to remain suspended, float, hover; to linger, wait”) + -er…