alcove
UK /ˈæl.kəʊv/ · US /ˈæl.koʊv/ noun, verb
Forms alcoves alcoving alcoved
- noun (architecture) A small recessed area set off from a larger room.
- noun A shady retreat. “The house was situated in a leafy alcove.”
- noun (countable) The geographical and geological term for a steep-sided hollow in the side of an exposed rock face or cliff of a homogeneous rock type, that was water eroded.
- verb (transitive, rare) To furnish (something) with an alcove or to form an alcovelike recess.
Synonyms
Etymology
From French alcôve, from Spanish alcoba or Portuguese alcova, from Arabic القُبَّة (al-qubba, “vault, chamber with vaulted roof”). Doublet of qubba.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A recessed portion of a room, or a small room opening into a larger one; especially, a recess to contain a bed; a lateral recess in a library.
- noun A small ornamental building with seats, or an arched seat, in a pleasure ground; a garden bower. Cowper.
Etymology [F. alcôve, Sp. or Pg. alcoba, from Ar. al-quobbah arch, vault, tent.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “alcove”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details