covey
Noun
- A small flock of birds, especially partridges or quail.
- a small collection of people
- a small flock of grouse or partridge
- A brood or family of partridges (family Phasianidae), which includes game birds such as grouse (tribe Tetraonini) and ptarmigans (tribe Tetraonini, genus Lagopus).
- A group of other birds, such as quail (superfamily Phasianoidea).
- A group or party of people; also, a group or set of things.
- A male person, a man; a chap, a chappie.
Verb
- To gather into a group.
Examples
- He saw a ’COVEY’ of vowels on his rack, but no high-scoring consonants for Words With Friends.
Origin / Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English covei, covey (“brood of partridges, covey; volley of shot; kind of gun”) [and other forms], from Old French covée (“brood (of chickens), clutch”) (modern French couvée), a noun use of the feminine past participle of cover (“to brood (an egg)”) (modern French couver), from Latin cubāre, the present active infinitive of cubō (“to lie down, recline; to incubate; to be broody”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- (“to lie down”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
French couvée (“brood (of chickens), clutch”), couver (“to brood (an egg)”)
Italian covata (“brood, clutch, covey, hatch”), covare (“to brood or incubate (an egg)”)
Synonyms
bloke, boy, bro, broski, bruh, cat, chap, chappy, chield, cove, covey, dawg, dog [⇒ thesaurus] (slang), dude, fella, fellow, gadgie, gate, geezer, gink, gloak, gome, guy, health, homeboy, homey, joe, lede, nigga, ninja, omi, pillicock, punk, rooster, seg, shalk, wallah, wer, were, wye
Scrabble Score: 13
covey: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcovey: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
covey: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary