dove

1 of 2

noun

1
: any of numerous pigeons
especially : a small wild pigeon
2
: a gentle woman or child
3
: one who takes a conciliatory attitude and advocates negotiations and compromise
especially : an opponent of war compare hawk entry 1
dovish adjective
dovishness noun

dove

2 of 2

past tense of dive

Examples of dove in a Sentence

Noun The President sided with the doves and worked to avoid war. the doves were in favor of using the surplus to improve the nation's schools and not its weapons systems
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The De La Salle senior ran through the mud, brushed aside desperate Los Alamitos arm tackles, and then burst into open grass for a brief sprint before the burly 220-pound bowling ball dove for the Spartans’ fourth score. Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 5 Mar. 2024 Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura – With one of the most easily identifiable coos, these doves can raise up to six broods every year. Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 4 Mar. 2024 Voters trust hawks more than doves on national security issues. Elizabeth N. Saunders, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 The group said other options like paper lantern releases or releasing a dove can have unintentional environmental consequences, and those methods should be avoided. Max Chesnes, Orlando Sentinel, 17 Jan. 2024 Players on each side dove for loose balls and many hit the floor after hard contact on drives to the basket. Timothy Dashiell, Baltimore Sun, 3 Jan. 2024 The tin artifact was shaped like a turtle dove perched on a ribbon, the museum said. Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 14 Feb. 2024 The solid-colored dove gray style is marked down to just $65, which is a terrific value, considering the original price was $145. Jennifer Chan, Peoplemag, 7 Jan. 2024 Snap’s share price dove 34% after its latest quarterly earnings report and forecast disappointed analysts. David Meyer, Fortune, 7 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dove.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English duve, douve, dowe, probably going back to Old English *dūfe and a shortened form *dufe, going back to Germanic *dūƀōn- (whence also Old Frisian dūwe "dove," Old Saxon dūƀa, Middle Dutch duve, Old High German tūba, Old Icelandic dúfa, Gothic -dubo, in hraiwadubo "turtledove"), of uncertain origin

Note: The modern English outcome with [ʌ] presupposes shortening of (or variation with) a Middle English form with ọ̄, itself presupposing Old English ŭ affected by Middle English open-syllable lengthening. Middle English spellings such as douve, however, would seem to require an Old English long vowel, as do the Germanic cognates. These issues were pointed out by E. J. Dobson (English Pronunciation, 1500-1700, 2. edition, Oxford, 1968, p. 514), who follows the Oxford English Dictionary's suggestion that the noun is related to Old English dūfan "to dive, plunge (into a liquid)" (see dive entry 1) and that the forms with long and short u reflect different ablaut grades of dūfan (a class II strong verb). Essentially the same solution, without the discussion of the English details, is proposed by G. Kroonen (Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Brill, 2013). The difficulty with this hypothesis is that the noun in Germanic languages uniformly means "dove, pigeon," not an aquatic bird. Another proposal associates *dūƀōn- with the Celtic etymon of Old Irish dub "dark, black," Old Welsh dub, Welsh du, on the assumption that a dove is "the dark bird." But such a source, usually derived, together with Germanic *dauƀa- "deaf, senseless" (see deaf) and Greek typhlós "blind, dark," from Indo-European *dhubh-, *dheu̯bh-, could not regularly produce a long u. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, the etymological successor to the Oxford English Dictionary, abandons the dive connection and says simply "presumed to be imitative of the bird's note."

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of dove was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near dove

Cite this Entry

“Dove.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dove. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

dove

1 of 2 noun
1
: any of numerous pigeons
especially : a small wild pigeon
2
: a person who opposes war or warlike policies
dovish adjective

dove

2 of 2

past and past participle of dive

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