covert


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to covert: Covert operations

cov·ert

 (kō′vərt, kō-vûrt′, kŭv′ərt)
adj.
1. Not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown: covert military operations; covert funding for the rebels. See Synonyms at secret.
2. Covered or covered over; sheltered.
3. Law Being married and therefore protected by one's husband.
n.
1. A covering or cover.
2.
a. A covered place or shelter; hiding place.
b. Thick underbrush or woodland affording cover for game.
3. Zoology One of the small feathers covering the bases of the longer feathers of a bird's wings or tail.

[Middle English, from Old French, from past participle of covrir, to cover; see cover.]

cov′ert·ly adv.
cov′ert·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

covert

(ˈkʌvət)
adj
1. concealed or secret: covert jealousy.
2. (Law) law Compare feme covert, discovert
n
3. a shelter or disguise
4. (Hunting) a thicket or woodland providing shelter for game
5. (Textiles) short for covert cloth
6. (Zoology) ornithol any of the small feathers on the wings and tail of a bird that surround the bases of the larger feathers
7. (Zoology) a flock of coots
[C14: from Old French: covered, from covrir to cover]
ˈcovertly adv
ˈcovertness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

co•vert

(adj. ˈkoʊ vərt, ˈkʌv ərt; n. ˈkʌv ərt, ˈkoʊ vərt)

adj.
1. concealed; secret; disguised.
2. covered; sheltered.
3. (of a wife) under the legal protection of a husband.
n.
4. a covering; cover.
5. a shelter or hiding place.
6. concealment or disguise.
7. a thicket giving shelter to wild animals or game.
8. Also called tectrix. one of the small feathers that cover the bases of the large feathers of a bird's wings and tail.
[1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin coopertus, past participle of cooperīre to cover completely; see cover]
co′vert•ly, adv.
co′vert•ness, n.
pron: covert has historically been pronounced (ˈkʌv ərt) with stressed (u), the vowel heard in cover, mother, some, and many other similarly spelled English words. As an adjective, however, covert, by analogy with overt (oʊˈvɜrt, ˈoʊ vərt) its semantic opposite, has developed the pronunciation (ˈkoʊ vərt) and this is the more common pronunciation in American English. For the noun, (ˈkʌv ərt) remains the more frequent pronunciation.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Covert

 a flock of birds; a flock or company of coots, 1430.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.covert - a flock of coots
coot - slate-black slow-flying birds somewhat resembling ducks
flock - a group of birds
2.covert - a covering that serves to conceal or shelter somethingcovert - a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something; "a screen of trees afforded privacy"; "under cover of darkness"; "the brush provided a covert for game"; "the simplest concealment is to match perfectly the color of the background"
blind - a hiding place sometimes used by hunters (especially duck hunters); "he waited impatiently in the blind"
camouflage - device or stratagem for concealment or deceit
covering - an artifact that covers something else (usually to protect or shelter or conceal it)
shoji - a translucent screen made of a wooden frame covered with rice paper
stalking-horse - screen consisting of a figure of a horse behind which a hunter hides while stalking game
Adj.1.covert - secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; "covert actions by the CIA"; "covert funding for the rebels"
implicit, inexplicit - implied though not directly expressed; inherent in the nature of something; "an implicit agreement not to raise the subject"; "there was implicit criticism in his voice"; "anger was implicit in the argument"; "the oak is implicit in the acorn"
concealed - hidden on any grounds for any motive; "a concealed weapon"; "a concealed compartment in his briefcase"
invisible, unseeable - impossible or nearly impossible to see; imperceptible by the eye; "the invisible man"; "invisible rays"; "an invisible hinge"; "invisible mending"
overt, open - open and observable; not secret or hidden; "an overt lie"; "overt hostility"; "overt intelligence gathering"; "open ballots"
2.covert - (of a wife) being under the protection of her husband; "a woman covert"
law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"
protected - kept safe or defended from danger or injury or loss; "the most protected spot I could find"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

covert

adjective secret, private, hidden, disguised, concealed, veiled, sly, clandestine, underhand, unsuspected, surreptitious, stealthy They have been supplying covert military aid to the rebels.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

covert

adjective
1. Existing or operating in a way so as to ensure complete concealment and confidentiality:
Informal: hush-hush.
Idiom: under wraps.
2. Lying beyond what is obvious or avowed:
Idiom: under cover.
noun
1. Something that physically protects, especially from danger:
2. A hiding place:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

covert

[ˈkʌvət]
A. ADJ (gen) → secreto, encubierto; [glance] → furtivo, disimulado
B. Nsoto m, matorral m
C. CPD covert attack Nataque m por sorpresa
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

covert

[ˈkʌvərt] adj
[operation, action] → secret/ète; [support, aid] → indirect(e)
[glance] → furtif/ive
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

covert

adj threat, attackversteckt; glance alsoverstohlen; surveillanceheimlich
nVersteck nt ? draw2
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

covert

[ˈkʌvət] adj (gen) → nascosto/a; (glance) → di sottecchi, furtivo/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
As soon as they had passed the fence they all spread out evenly and quietly, without noise or talk, along the road and field leading to the Otradnoe covert.
"Trillium Covert," they read, in quaint carved letters under the eave of the porch.
But because the alley will be long, and, in great heat of the year or day, you ought not to buy the shade in the garden, by going in the sun through the green, therefore you are, of either side the green, to plant a covert alley upon carpenter's work, about twelve foot in height, by which you may go in shade into the garden.
He drew the listening savages round him by his nervous eloquence; taunted them with recitals of past wrongs and insults; drew glowing pictures of triumphs and trophies within their reach; recounted tales of daring and romantic enterprise, of secret marchings, covert lurkings, midnight surprisals, sackings, burnings, plunderings, scalpings; together with the triumphant return, and the feasting and rejoicing of the victors.
He was a homely, freckled, sandy-haired young fellow, with an intelligent blue eye that had frankness and comradeship in it and a covert twinkle of a pleasant sort.
"Yes; and he was up again at eight to ride to covert."
To the prevalence of these breezes, and to the want of all leafy covert, may we also attribute the freedom from those flies and other insects so tormenting to man and beast during the summer months, in the lower plains, which are bordered and interspersed with woodland.
No sooner had the King so spoken, than out from the covert at the roadside stepped a tall fellow with yellow beard and hair and a pair of merry blue eyes.
Rabbits, hares, snakes, rats, mice, retreated inwards as into a fastness, unaware of the ephemeral nature of their refuge, and of the doom that awaited them later in the day when, their covert shrinking to a more and more horrible narrowness, they were huddled together, friends and foes, till the last few yards of upright wheat fell also under the teeth of the unerring reaper, and they were every one put to death by the sticks and stones of the harvesters.
As we sat at the table, Otto Fuchs and I kept stealing covert glances at each other.
A fine stag had been struck down by one Of Will Stutely's fellows, and he and others had stepped forth from the covert to seize it, when twenty bowmen from Nottingham appeared at the end of the glade.
I thought my quest had brought me into a strange old haunted forest, and that I had thrown myself down to rest at the gnarled mossy root of a great oak-tree, while all about me was nought but fantastic shapes and capricious groups of gold-green bole and bough, wondrous alleys ending in mysterious coverts, and green lanes of exquisite turf that seemed to have been laid down in expectation of some milk-white queen or goddess passing that way.