Dove Definition

dŭv

doves

noun

doves

Any of various widely distributed birds of the family Columbidae, which includes the pigeons, having a small head and a characteristic cooing call.

American Heritage

Pigeon, esp. the smaller species: it is often used as a symbol of peace.

Webster's New World

An advocate of measures in international affairs designed to avoid or reduce open hostilities.

Webster's New World

A person regarded as gentle, innocent, or beloved.

Webster's New World

A person who advocates peace, conciliation, or negotiation in preference to confrontation or armed conflict.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

verb

Webster's New World

(chiefly North America and English dialect) Strong-declension simple past tense of dive.

Wiktionary

(nonstandard) Past participle of dive.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

pronoun

Constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Caelum and Puppis.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Dove

Singular:

dove

Plural:

doves

From Middle English dove, douve, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, be obscure”). Cognate with Scots doo, dow (“dove”), West Frisian do (“dove”), Dutch duif (“dove, pigeon”), Low German (Low Saxon) Duuv (“dove, pigeon”), German Taube (“dove, pigeon”), Danish due (“dove”), Swedish duva (“dove”), Icelandic dúfa (“dove”), Gothic (dubo).

From Wiktionary
A modern dialectal formation of the strong declension, by analogy with drive → drove and weave → wove.

From Wiktionary
Middle English douve from Old English dūfe

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition