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covey

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
cov·ey  (kv)
n. pl. cov·eys
1. A family or small flock of birds, especially partridge or quail. See Synonyms at flock1.
2. A small group, as of persons.

[Middle English, from Old French covee, brood, from feminine past participle of cover, to incubate, from Latin cubre, to lie down.]

covey [ˈkʌvɪ]
n
1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Zoology) a small flock of grouse or partridge
2. a small group, as of people
[from Old French covee, from cover to sit on, hatch; see couvade]

Covey a flock of birds; a brood or hatch of birds; a family, party, or set of persons or things. See also bevy, company, covert.
Examples: covey of coxcombes, 1590; of new doctrines, 1641; of fiddlers, 1616; of girls; of grouse; of mathematicians, 1616; of partridges, 1440; of ptarmigan, 1835; of sage hens, 1868; of trumps [playing cards], 1839; of victims, 1827.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.covey - a small collection of people
assemblage, gathering - a group of persons together in one place
2.covey - a small flock of grouse or partridge
grouse - popular game bird having a plump body and feathered legs and feet
partridge - small Old World gallinaceous game birds
flock - a group of birds
Translations
covey [ˈkʌvɪ] N
1. (Orn) → nidada f (de perdices)
2. (fig) → grupo m
covey [ˈkʌvi] n [grouse, partridges] → compagnie f
covey
n (of partridges)Kette f


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Who would chirp you to sleep, or call for you the covey of answering birds?
Little Jones went one day a shooting with the gamekeeper; when happening to spring a covey of partridges near the border of that manor over which Fortune, to fulfil the wise purposes of Nature, had planted one of the game consumers, the birds flew into it, and were marked (as it is called) by the two sportsmen, in some furze bushes, about two or three hundred paces beyond Mr Allworthy's dominions.
Levin knew Laska's method, wary and indefinite; he knew the place too and expected a whole covey of snipe.
 
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