- cover
- [[t]kʌ̱və(r)[/t]]
♦1) VERB If you cover something, you place something else over it in order to protect it, hide it, or close it.
[V n with n] Cover the casserole with a tight-fitting lid...
[V n] He whimpered and covered his face...
[V-ed] Keep what's left in a covered container in the fridge.
2) VERB If one thing covers another, it has been placed over it in order to protect it, hide it, or close it.[V n] His finger went up to touch the black patch which covered his left eye...
[V n] His head was covered with a khaki turban.
3) VERB If one thing covers another, it forms a layer over its surface.[V n] The clouds had spread and nearly covered the entire sky...
[V n] Two oil slicks are covering a total area of seven square miles...
[be V-ed with/in n] The desk was covered with papers...
[be V-ed with/in n] I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was covered in blood.
Derived words:-covered COMB in ADJ...chocolate-covered biscuits.
4) VERB To cover something with or in something else means to put a layer of the second thing over its surface.[V n with/in n] The trees in your garden may have covered the ground with apples, pears or plums...
[V n with/in n] She covered the walls with the signs of the zodiac.
5) VERB If you cover a particular distance, you travel that distance.[V n] It would not be easy to cover ten miles on that amount of petrol...
[V n] It covered the distance in 28 hours compared with the train's six days.
6) VERB To cover someone or something means to protect them from attack, for example by pointing a gun in the direction of people who may attack them, ready to fire the gun if necessary.[V n] You go first. I'll cover you.
7) N-UNCOUNT Cover is protection from enemy attack that is provided for troops or ships carrying out a particular operation, for example by aircraft.They said they could not provide adequate air cover for ground operations.
Syn:8) N-UNCOUNT Cover is trees, rocks, or other places where you shelter from the weather or from an attack, or hide from someone.Charles lit the fuses and they ran for cover.
...barren wastes of field with no trees and no cover.
Syn:9) VERB An insurance policy that covers a person or thing guarantees that money will be paid by the insurance company in relation to that person or thing.[V n] Their insurer paid the ₤900 bill, even though the policy did not strictly cover it...
[V n] These items are not covered by your medical insurance...
[V n against n] You should take out travel insurance covering you and your family against theft.
10) N-UNCOUNT Insurance cover is a guarantee from an insurance company that money will be paid by them if it is needed.Make sure that the firm's insurance cover is adequate.
Syn:11) VERB If a law covers a particular set of people, things, or situations, it applies to them.[V n] The law covers four categories of experiments...
[V n] Like any other commodity, pedigree dogs are covered by the Sale of Goods Act.
Syn:12) VERB If you cover a particular topic, you discuss it in a lecture, course, or book.[V n] The Oxford Chemistry Primers aim to cover important topics in organic chemistry...
[V-ed] Other subjects covered included nerves and how to overcome them.
Syn:13) VERB If journalists, newspapers, or television companies cover an event, they report on it.[V n] Robinson was sent to Italy to cover the 1990 World Cup...
[V n] The US news media will cover the trial closely.
14) VERB If a sum of money covers something, it is enough to pay for it.[V n] Send it to the address given with ₤1.50 to cover postage and administration...
[V n] Those figures might not even cover the cost of breakages.
Syn:pay for15) N-COUNT: oft n N A cover is something which is put over an object, usually in order to protect it....a family room with washable covers on the furniture.
...a duvet cover.
16) N-PLURAL: usu the N The covers on your bed are the things such as sheets and blankets that you have on top of you.She set her glass down and slid farther under the covers.
Syn:17) N-COUNT The cover of a book or a magazine is the outside part of it.A few years ago, David Byrne was on the cover of Time magazine.
...a small spiral-bound booklet with a green cover...
I used to read every issue from cover to cover.
18) N-COUNT: usu sing Something that is a cover for secret or illegal activities seems respectable or normal, and is intended to hide the activities.They set up a spurious temple that was a cover for sexual debauchery...
As a cover story he generally tells people he is a freelance photographer.
Syn:19) VERB If you cover for someone who is doing something secret or illegal, you give false information or do not give all the information you have, in order to protect them.[V for n] Why would she cover for someone who was trying to kill her?
20) VERB If you cover for someone who is ill or away, you do their work for them while they are not there.[V for n] She did not have enough nurses to cover for those who went ill or took holiday.
21) VERB To cover a song originally performed by someone else means to record a new version of it.[V n] He must make a decent living from other artists covering his songs.
The single is a cover of an old Rolling Stones song.
23) → See also , covering24) PHRASE: V inflects To blow someone's cover means to cause their true identity or the true nature of their work to be revealed. [INFORMAL]Asking those kind of questions could blow my cover...
The young man looked embarrassed, as if he were a spy whose cover had been blown.
25) PHRASE: V inflects If you break cover, you leave a place where you have been hiding or sheltering from attack, usually in order to run to another place.They began running again, broke cover and dashed towards the road.
26) PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR prep If you take cover, you shelter from gunfire, bombs, or the weather.Shoppers took cover behind cars as police marksmen returned fire.
Syn:27) PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR If you are under cover, you are under something that protects you from gunfire, bombs, or the weather.`Get under cover!' shouted Billy, and we darted once more for the tables.
28) PHR-PREP If you do something under cover of a particular situation, you are able to do it without being noticed because of that situation.They move under cover of darkness.
Phrasal Verbs:- cover up
English dictionary. 2008.
