Link Centre Dictionary

hover

ho·ver

UK/ˈhɒvə/ US/ˈhʌvə/ uncommon obsolete

verb

1.

be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action

  • “He oscillates between accepting the new position and retirement”
Synonyms
2.

move to and fro

  • “The shy student lingered in the corner”
Synonyms
3.

hang in the air; fly or be suspended above

4.

be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of gravity

  • “The guru claimed that he could levitate”
Synonyms
5.

hang over, as of something threatening, dark, or menacing

  • “The terrible vision brooded over her all day long”
Synonyms

Origin

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 (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

Phrases

  • hover fly
  • hover hand
  • hover text

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Related verbs

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.