▪ I. dove, n.
(dʌv)
Forms: 3–4 duve, 4–5 dofe, douf(e, douff(e, dowfe, douve, dowve, doo, (5 doyf, 6 doffe), 4– dove, (Sc. 5– dow, doo, 6 dou).
[OE. *dufe, not found (unless as first element in d{uacu}fe-doppa: see dive-dap); = OS. dûƀa, OFris. dûve (MDu. dûve, Du. duif). OHG. tûba, tûpa (MHG. tûbe, Ger. taube), ON. d{uacu}fa (Sw. dufva, Da. due), Goth. dûbo:—OTeut. *dūƀōn, weak fem. Perhaps a deriv. of duƀ- to dive, dip (see dive): cf. the analogous connexion of L. columba with Gr. κόλυµβος diver, κολυµβίς diver (bird).
In OE. the name was displaced by culufre: see culver.]
1. a. A bird of the Columbidœ, or pigeon family.
Formerly, and still in dialects (dove, dow, doo) applied to all the species of pigeon native to or known in Britain, including the Wood-pigeon, Ring-dove, or Cushat-dove, the Rock-dove or Rock pigeon, the Stock-dove, and the Turtle-dove; but now often restricted to the last, and its congeners. Most of the exotic species are called pigeons, e.g. the Passenger-pigeon of America, dove being restricted to those which in appearance or habits resemble the turtle-doves. The dove has been, from the institution of Christianity, the type of gentleness and harmlessness, and occupies an important place in Christian symbolism: cf. sense 2.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 49 Buð admode alse duue..Turtlen and duues. a 1300 Cursor M. 1901 (Cott.) [Noe] sent þe dofe eftsith. Ibid. 10775 (Cott.) A duu [v. rr. dowe, doufe, dove] þat was fra heuen send. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 78 The Spirit cam doun..and þis Spirit was þis dowfe. 1388 ― Prov. vi. 5 Be thou rauyschid as a doo fro the hond. c 1450 Holland Howlat 231 The Dow, Noyis messinger. 1481 Caxton Godfrey cxlvi. 219 They..bonde thoo lettres to the tayles of the douues, and lete them flee. c 1550 Cheke Matt. iii. 16 He saw y⊇ sprite of god coming down like a dow and lighting apon him. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 171, I sweare..By the simplicitie of Venus Doues. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 180 The common wild Dove or Pigeon. 1712 Pope Messiah 12 And on its top descends the mystic Dove. 1842 Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 88 Voices of the well-contented doves. |
b. With prefixed word defining the species, as
ringed-dove,
spring-dove.
blue dove (
Yorksh.), the Rock dove.
bush dove, the Stock dove.
Wrekin dove (
Salop), the Turtle dove. Also cushat-, ground-, ring-, rock-, stock-, turtle-,
wood-dove, etc.,
q.v. in their alphabetical places.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 59 The thrustelcock..The wodedowue. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 911 The rynged dove, le ramier; the stocke dove, le creuset. 18.. Whittier Hymns fr. Lamartine i. vi, Thought after thought, ye thronging rise Like spring-doves from the startled wood. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 167 Stock Dove (Columba œnas). Bush dove. Ibid. 168 Rock Dove (Columba livia), also called..Blue dove (North Riding). Ibid. 169 Turtledove (Turtur communis), it is also called in Shropshire, Wrekin dove. |
c. Greenland-dove,
sea- (turtle-) dove = dovekie.
sea-dove, a kind of fish (see
quot. 1753).
| 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 326 The Greenland-Dove or Sea-Turtle. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Columba Greenlandica..called in English, the sea turtle dove. Ibid., Columba marina, the sea dove..the name of an East Indian fish, and appearing to be a species of the orbis, or moon-fish. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 218 Black Guillemot (Uria Grylle), from the great attachment shown to each other by the male and female..this bird has received the names: Greenland dove (Orkney Isles), Rock dove (Ireland). |
d. = dove-colour (5 b).
| 1895 Bow Bells 29 Mar. 322/1 Sortie-de-bals..are almost always in neutral tints—dove, gray, or fawn. 1903 Daily Chron. 21 Nov. 8/4 Aubergine accords with dove charmingly. |
2. fig. and
transf. a. Applied to the Holy Spirit.
[In reference to Luke iii. 22, and parallel places.]
| [13.. Coer de L. 5671 On hys crest a douve whyte, Sygnyfycacioun off the Holy Spryte.] 1707 Watts Hymn, Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, With all thy quickening powers. 1713 J. Warder True Amazons (ed. 2) 168 By thy sweet Dove now (from above) And always taught to pray. 1779 Cowper Hymn, ‘O for a closer walk’, Return, O holy Dove, return. 1827 Keble Chr. Y., Whit-sunday iii, Softer than gale at morning prime, Hovered his holy Dove. |
b. A messenger of peace and deliverance from anxiety, as was the dove to Noah (
Gen. viii. 8–12).
| 1623 (title), The Essex Dove presenting the World with a few of her Olive-branches; or, a Taste of the Works of the Rev. John Smith. 1849 Lytton Caxtons i. ii, He will be a dove of peace to your ark. |
c. A gentle, innocent, or loving woman or child; also
† an innocent or simpleton.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 159 Tut, she's a Lambe, a Doue, a foole to him. 1771 Foote Maid of B. Prol. Wks. 1799 II. 200 The gaming fools are doves, the knaves are rooks. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. vi, O somewhere, meek unconscious dove, Poor child, that waitest for thy love! |
d. An appellation of tender affection.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 897 Rys vp my wyf, my loue, my lady free..my dowue sweete. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 73 The caller cryed: Hald draught, my dowes. 1535 Coverdale Song Sol. v. 2 O my sister, my loue, my doue, my derlinge. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 167 Fare you well my Doue. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 171 Shall I wait upon you, dove? 1816 Scott Old Mort. vi, Is not that worth waiting for, my dow? 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xxii. 61 She is coming, my dove, my dear. |
e. = dove-marble (5 b below). Also
attrib.| 1805 Times 7 Nov. 4/4 Vein, Dove, and fine Statuary chimney-pieces. 1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. 667 The first [sc. marble] to be mentioned is the ‘Dove’, it being of a dove color. |
f. Politics. A person who advocates negotiations as a means of terminating or preventing a military conflict, as opposed to one (
cf. hawk n.1 3) who advocates a hard-line or warlike policy. Also
attrib. or quasi-adj. and
transf.| 1962 Alsop & Bartlett in Sat. Even. Post 8 Dec. 20/1 The hawks favored an air strike to eliminate the Cuban missile bases... The doves opposed the air strikes and favored a blockade. 1964 New Yorker 10 Oct. 108 Not one of them, whether a ‘dove’ or a ‘hawk’, took much stock in the notion of ‘overkill’. 1966 Guardian 10 Jan. 9/8 The Republicans are themselves divided into two prongs: the liberal Javits, or doubting dove wing; and the Gerald Ford, or hawk wing, which wants a ‘total win’ in Vietnam. 1966 Listener 21 July 93/2 The term ‘hawks and doves’..was put into circulation by Charles Bartlett, President Kennedy's great journalistic confidant, in the course of an apparently inspired account of what took place in the President's own National Security Council at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. Ibid. 6 Oct. 488/2 For the South Vietnamese there are no nice clear-cut issues, no hawk or dove solutions. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 30 Apr. iii. 5/3 It is unfair for the Administration and the hawks to try to compromise the patriotism of the doves. 1971 N.Y. Rev. Books 17 June 19/1 A perceptive columnist and long-time dove. |
3. An image of a dove as a symbol of innocence, etc.; also, the vessel enclosing the pyx formerly used in the East and in France.
| 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 801 The Lorde Lisle Vicount bare the rod with the doffe, which signifieth innocencie. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2309/3 Count Drascouitz bearing the Truncheon..Count Erdeodi the Dove. 1849–53 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. 203 (Cent.) There generally were two vessels: the smaller one, or the pix..the larger cup, or dove, within which the other was shut up. 1896 Daily Chron. 19 May 3/5 The Archbishop delivered the Sceptre to her [the Queen's] right hand, a rod, with a dove on the top, being placed by him in her left, the ‘rod of equity and mercy’. |
4. Astron. dove of Noah. (See
quot.)
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 363/1 Columba Noachi (constellation), the dove of Noah, a constellation formed by Halley, close to the hinder feet of Canis Major. |
5. Combinations.
a. attrib., as
dove-hut,
dove-messenger,
dove-monger,
dove-pinion,
dove-taker, etc.; instrumental, as
dove-drawn,
adj.; similative and parasynthetic, as
dove-form,
dove-green,
dove-grey,
dove-soft,
dove-white;
dove-feathered,
dove-footed,
dove-robed,
dove-winged,
adjs.| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 94, I met her deity [Venus]..and her Son *Doue-drawn with her. 1878 P. Robinson My Ind. Garden 205 The dove-drawn goddess. |
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 76 Rauenous *Doue-feather'd Rauen. |
| 1820 Keats Lamia i. 42 The God, *dove-footed, glided silently Round bush and tree. |
| 1891 M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. 287 A huge bank of..*dove-grey cloud. |
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah iii. ix. 429 Purging of the temple from *dove-mongers. |
| 1923 E. Sitwell Bucolic Comedies 44 And the miller's daughter Combs her locks, Like running water Those *dove-soft flocks. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Doue taker, columbarius. |
| 1871 Swinburne Songs before Sunrise 66 Now, to stroke smooth, the *dove-white breast of love. 1967 New Statesman 28 July 110/3 Their dove-white cars speed by heavy black armour contorted like paper-clips. |
| 1867 G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland (1918) st. 3, My heart, but you were *dovewinged, I can tell. |
b. Special comb.:
† dove-bird, the young of a dove, a young pigeon (
obs.);
dove-colour, a warm grey with a tone of pink or purple; so
dove-coloured;
dove-dock, the coltsfoot;
dove-flower = dove-plant (
Treas. Bot.);
dove's-foot, the plant
Geranium molle, and some other small species of cranesbill;
dove-hawk, the
dove-coloured falcon or hen-harrier (
Circus cyaneus);
dove-marble, marble of a dove-colour;
dove orchid or
orchis = dove-plant;
dove-plant, an orchid of Central America,
Peristeria elata;
dove-tick, a blind mite parasitic on pigeons;
dove tree,
Davidia involucrata and its varieties;
dove-wood, the wood of
Alchornea latifolia, a euphorbiaceous tree of the West Indies.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 47 Two turtle briddes . gif hie was poure, two *duue briddes. c 1440 York Myst. xli. 250 We haue doyf-byrdes two. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 760/43 Hic pipio, dowbyrd. |
| 1598 Florio, Colombino, *doue colour. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Columbine, a kind of violet-colour, called also dove-colour. |
| 1727 E. Dorrington Hermit iii. 227 A grave Gentle⁓woman..dress'd in plain *Dove-colour'd Cloathes. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 164 A dove-coloured silk mitten. 1876 J. S. Ingram Centennial Exposition xi. 361 A very fine dove-colored or mottled marble was shown. |
| 1812 J. Henderson Agric. Surv. Caithn. 84 (Jam.) The arable land was much infested with..the *dove-dock. |
| 1831 Curtis's Bot. Mag. LVIII. 3116 (heading) Peristeria elata. Lofty *Dove-Flower. 1951 Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) III. 1529/1 P[eristeria] elata. Dove or Holy Ghost Flower. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 100 *Douefote, Geranium molle. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxii. 47 Doue foote. 1756 Watson in Phil. Trans. XLIX. 841 Doves-foot, or Doves-foot Cranes-bill. |
| 1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. 675 The first mills at Swanton were wholly employed in the manufacture of grave-stones from the *dove-marble. |
| 1918 Chambers's Jrnl. May 321/2 The ‘*dove’ orchid, or Espiritu Santo flower of Central America. |
| 1852 C. M. Yonge Two Guardians viii. 142 Those tropical plants..the *dove orchis or the zebra-striped pitcher-plant. |
| 1882 Garden 10 June 401/3 The *Dove plant..the beautiful Holy Ghost flower of the Spaniards. |
| 1933 A. Osborn Shrubs & Trees for Garden xxxv. 324 Davidia. Chinese *Dove Tree. 1970 H. L. Edlin Collins Guide to Tree Planting & Cultivation 226 When a dove tree is in bloom in May, these white bracts stand out in a bold display, as though a flock of white doves were alighting amid its bright-green foliage, and this explains the English name. |
▸
slang.
(a) U.S. an amount of crack cocaine;
(b) Brit. a type of ecstasy tablet, typically white and bearing a small image of a dove (hence also more fully
love dove,
white dove, etc.).
| 1986 San Francisco Chron. 17 Nov. 1/2 He laughs, sifting out 12 of the nuggets, the highly potent form of cocaine known generally as crack and locally as base rocks, hubbas and doves. 1989 Time 6 Nov. 98/2 Five-dollar ‘nickels’ give way to $40 ‘doves’. Soon crack addicts are spending $200 and more every night. 1992 Guardian 28 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 11/3 Here you are mate, 120 love-doves. Twelve and halves apiece—which is exactly {pstlg}1,500-worth of credit. 1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 156 Sick Boy brings oot some E. White doves, ah think. It's mental gear. Most Ecstasy hasnae any MDMA in it, it's jist likesay, ken, part speed, part acid in its effects. 1999B. Anderson Savoir Faire (song, perf. ‘Suede’) in Head Music (CD sleeve-notes) She make [sic] love and swallowed a dove In her room. |
▪ II. dove, v. nonce-wd. [f. prec. n.] trans. To treat as a dove; to call ‘dove’.
| 1864 Browning Too Late viii, Loved you and doved you. |
▪ III. dove (
dəʊv)
occasional
pa. tense of
dive v. See also E.D.D.