dove
/dʌv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/dʊv/
dove noun: a pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae. Also the ellipsis of love dove.
Noun
dove (countable and uncountable, plural doves)
- A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae.
- Dove's brains have been prepared by chefs for amorous expectations.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 77
- Synonyms:
- culver
- A person favouring conciliation and negotiation rather than conflict.
- On the left are the activist Vietniks, eager to protest the war; next are the doves, who oppose the U.S. role but shun demonstrations; and in the middle are the apathetics, who simply are not concerned enough to think through their own stand.1965 November 19, “Universities: The Spectrum on Viet Nam”, in Time, volume 86, number 21, page 67
- Synonyms:
- peace dove
- Antonyms:
- hawk
- A term of endearment for one regarded as pure and gentle.
- O my dove, […] let me hear thy voice.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Song of Solomon 2:14
- A greyish, bluish, pinkish colour like that of the bird.
Proper noun capitalized: Dove
Dove (uncountable)
- A river in England, forming the boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
- A river in Suffolk, England, a tributary of the Waveney.
- An unincorporated community in Laclede County, Missouri, United States.
- A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Caelum and Puppis.
- A surname.
Also used as
dove is also the ellipsis of love dove.
dove is also the simple past of dive.
dove is also the past participle of dive.
dove meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu
dove in Hindi
- bird of the family Columbidae, especially one smaller than a pigeon — see also pigeon
- कपोत kapot, कबूतर kabūtar, परेवा parevā
dove in Tamil
- bird of the family Columbidae, especially one smaller than a pigeon — see also pigeon
- புறா puṟā
dove in Bengali
- bird of the family Columbidae, especially one smaller than a pigeon — see also pigeon
- ঘুঘু ghughu
dove in Telugu
- bird of the family Columbidae, especially one smaller than a pigeon — see also pigeon
- పావురం pāvuraṁ, కపోతం kapōtaṁ
More languagesFewer languages
- dove in Sanskrit
- कपोत kapota
- dove in Assamese
- কপৌ kopou, কুপতি kupoti, পাৰ parô
- dove in Tagalog
- kalapati
- dove in Arabic
- يَمَام yamām, حَمَام ḥamām
- dove in Malay
- merpati
- dove in Indonesian
- merpati, burung merpati, dara, burung dara
- dove in Persian
- فاخته fâxta, کبوتر kabutar
- dove in Thai
- นกเขา nok khao
- dove in Vietnamese
- bồ câu
Examples of dove in a sentence
- He dove into the rushing waters in a desperate effort to save her life.
- My favorite prestidigitation was when he pulled the live dove out of that tiny scarf.
- O for the wings of a dove.
Synonyms of dove
Antonyms
Forms of dove
| plural | doves |
|---|
Origin of dove
From Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūbā, from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove, pigeon”). Cognate with Scots doo, dow, Saterland Frisian Duuwe, West Frisian do, Dutch duif, Afrikaans duif, Sranan Tongo doifi, German Taube, German Low German Duuv, Dutch Low Saxon duve, doeve, Danish due, Faroese dúgva, Icelandic dúfa, Norwegian Bokmål due, Norwegian Nynorsk due, Swedish duva, Yiddish טויב (toyb), Gothic *𐌳𐌿𐌱𐍉 (*dubō).
A modern formation of the strong conjugation, by analogy with drive → drove and weave → wove.
* As an English surname, from the noun dove. * As a Scottish surname, calque of Scottish Gaelic (mac) Calmáin (“(son of the) dove”). Compare Coleman. * Also as a Scottish surname, variant of Duff. * As a north German surname, from the Low German adjective doof (“deaf”); see deaf.
Words formed from dove
- Asian emerald dove
- Barbary dove
- bar-shouldered dove
- beautiful fruit dove
- blue ground dove
- collared dove
- cuckoo dove
- cuckoo-dove
- cushat dove
- cushat-dove
- dead dove
- diamond dove
- dovecot
- dovecote
- Dove Creek
- dove-eyed
- dove gray
- dove grey
- dovehouse
- dovekie
- dovelet
- dovelike
- doveling
- dovely
- dove of peace
- dove orchid
- dove plant
- doveplum
- dove shell
- doveship
- dovetail
- dove tree
- dove weed
- dovish
- eared dove
- Fleet Street dove
- fruit dove
- fruit-dove
- Galapagos dove
- ground dove
- Inca dove
- laughing dove
- little brown dove
- lovey-dovey
- moaning dove
- mourning dove
- Nicobar dove
- Pacific dove
- palm dove
- peaceful dove
- Philippine cuckoo-dove
- quail dove
- quail-dove
- rain dove
- release dove
- ringdove
- ring dove
- ringed dove
- ringneck dove
- rock dove
Phrases with dove
- Dove Cay
- sea dove
- deep dove
- Dove Dale
- love dove
- wood dove
- crash dove
- dove greys
- Dove Holes
- Dove prism
- dove trees
- peace dove
26 more phrasesFewer phrases
- power dove
- stock dove
- zebra dove
- dove plants
- Dove prisms
- Samoan dove
- scaled dove
- soiled dove
- turtle dove
- Senegal dove
- tobacco dove
- zenaida dove
- dumpster dove
- vinaceous dove
- red turtle dove
- tambourine dove
- atoll fruit dove
- golden fruit dove
- Rolleston on Dove
- ruddy ground dove
- white-winged dove
- common ground dove
- European turtle dove
- laughing turtle dove
- oriental turtle dove
- Eurasian collared dove
Words that rhyme with dove
- love
- above
- glove
- shove
- belove
- gov
- deglove
- live in the shadow of
- bruv
- fit like a glove
- for want of
- luv
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about dove
- What does dove mean?
- Dove means a pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae.
- What is dove in Hindi?
- Dove in Hindi is कपोत (kapot), कबूतर (kabūtar), परेवा (parevā). See Dove meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is dove?
- Dove can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dove?
- Dove is pronounced /dʌv/.
- What is the plural of dove?
- The plural of dove is doves.
Words near dove in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dove (page history and authors); Dove (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dove-noun.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dove.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dove. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.