COVER

I. verb (~ed; ~ing) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French ~ir, covrir, from Latin cooperire, from co- + operire to close, ~ Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. to guard from attack, b. to have within the range of one's guns ; command , to hold within range of an aimed firearm, c. to afford protection or security to ; insure , to afford protection against or compensation for , d. to guard (an opponent) in order to obstruct a play , to be in position to receive a throw to (a base in baseball) , e. to make provision for (a demand or charge) by means of a reserve or deposit , to maintain a check on especially by patrolling, to protect by contrivance or expedient, 2. to hide from sight or knowledge ; conceal , to lie over ; envelop , to lay or spread something over ; overlay , 4. to spread over , to appear here and there on the surface of , to place or set a ~ or ~ing over , 6. to copulate with (a female animal) , to sit on and incubate (eggs), to invest with a large or excessive amount of something , to play a higher-ranking card on (a previously played card), to have sufficient scope to include or take into account , to deal with ; treat , 11. to have as one's territory or field of activity , to report news about , to pass over ; traverse , to defray the cost of , to place one's stake in equal jeopardy with in a bet, to buy securities or commodities for delivery against (an earlier short sale), to record or perform a ~ of (a song), intransitive verb to conceal something illicit, blameworthy, or embarrassing from notice, to act as a substitute or replacement during an absence, ~able adjective ~er noun II. noun Usage: often attributive Date: 14th century something that protects, shelters, or guards: as, natural shelter for an animal, b. a position or situation affording protection from enemy fire, the protection offered by airplanes in tactical support of a military operation, ~age 1a, b, 2a, something that is placed over or about another thing:, lid , top , a binding or case for a book or the analogous part of a magazine, an overlay or outer layer especially for protection , a tablecloth and the other table accessories, ~ charge , roof , a cloth used on a bed for warmth or for decoration, something (as vegetation or snow) that ~s the ground, the extent to which clouds obscure the sky, 3. something that conceals or obscures , a masking device ; pretext , an envelope or wrapper for mail, one who substitutes for another during an absence, a recording or performance of a song previously recorded by another performer, ~less adjective