ENGLISH
REFERENCE

hover

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈhəvɝ// UK //hˈɒvɐ// hov·er Archaic

v. to stay in one place in the air without moving away. You can also use this to describe keeping your computer mouse over a specific spot on the screen.

v. to remain suspended in one place in the air; to linger or wait close by in an uncertain or expectant manner. In computing contexts, it refers to positioning a cursor over a graphical element without clicking.


SIMPLE

The bird can hover in the air while looking for food.

CONTEXTUAL

If you hover your mouse over the image, a small box with more information will appear on the screen.

COMPLEX

The helicopter continued to hover above the dense forest canopy, searching for any sign of the missing hikers before the fading light made further observation impossible.

Synonyms
Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English hoveren (“to float in the air, hover; to stay”), probably from hoven (“hover; of a bird: to fly high in the air, soar”) (which it displaced) + -er- (frequentative suffix). Hoven is probably derived from Old English hōfian, from hōfon, the plural past indicative form of hebban (“to lift, raise”), from Proto-West Germanic habbjan, from Proto-Germanic habjaną (“to lift; to heave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European keh₂p- (“to hold, seize”). The English word is analysable as hove (“(obsolete) to remain suspended, float, hover; to linger, wait”) + -er (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

Usage

The verb is intransitive when describing flight, but functions transitively in computing contexts ('hover the mouse').

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