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.
To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.
2
Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).
Castration has a ſtrange effect: it emaſculates both man, beaſt, and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. […] Capons have ſmall combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets; they alſo vvalk vvithout any parade, and hover chickens like hens.1789, Gil[bert] White, “Letter XXXII. To the Same.”, in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton: […], London: […] T[homas] Bensley; for B[enjamin] White and Son, […], →OCLC, page 212:
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Obsolete Of a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.
O'er the deer Corps ſomtimes her vvings ſhe [an eagle] hovers, / Somtimes the dead breſt vvith her breſt ſhe covers, […]1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Fift Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 142:
Thus have I lain conceal'd like a vvinter Fly, hoping for ſome bleſt Sun-Shine to vvarm me into Life again, and make me hover my flagging VVings; […]1686 (first performance), A[phra] Behn, The Luckey Chance, or An Alderman’s Bargain. A Comedy. […], London: […] R. H[olt], for W. Canning, […], published 1687, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 5:
4
To remain stationary or float in the air.
The hummingbird hovered by the plant.
[T]hough you go to Theaters to see sport, Cupid may cache you ere you departe. The little god hovereth aboute you, and fanneth you with his wings to kindle fire: when you are set as fixed whites, Desire draweth his arrow to the head, and sticketh it uppe to the fethers, and Fancy bestireth him to shed his poyson through every vayne.1579, Stephen Gosson, “The Schoole of Abuse, […]”, in The School of Abuse, Containing a Pleasant Invective against Poets, Pipers, Players, Jesters, &c. […], London: […] [Frederic Shoberl, Jun.] for the Shakespeare Society, published 1841, →OCLC, page 49:
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Thus meerely vvith the garment of a grace, / The naked and concealed feind he couerd, / That th'vnexperient gaue the tempter place, / VVhich like a Cherubin aboue them houerd, / VVho young and ſimple vvould not be ſo louerd.1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature L2, verso:
Long and patiently did I vvait for this unlucky Crovv […] till at length having guzzl'd and croak'd enough, vvhen by hovering over his beloved Dainties, he had raiſ'd himſelf high enough, to prompt me to fire at him, […]1665, Robert Boyle, “Occasional Reflections. Reflection III. Killing a Crow (out of a Window) in a Hog’s-trough, and Immediately Tracing the Ensuing Reflection with a Pen Made of One of His Quills.”, in Occasional Reflections upon Several Subiects. Whereto is Premis’d a Discourse about Such Kind of Thoughts, London: […] W. Wilson for Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, section V, page 149:
[T]he Mercers encreaſing prodigiouſly vvent back into the City; there like Bees unhiv'd they hover about a vvhile, not knovving vvhere to fix; but at laſt, as if they vvould come back to the old Hive in Pater-noſter Rovv, but could not be admitted, the ſvvarm ſettled on Lu[d]gate-hill.1727, [Daniel Defoe], “Of such Tradesmen who by the Necessary Consequences of Their Business are Oblig’d to be Accessary to the Propagation of Vice, and the Encrease of the Wickedness of the Times, and that All the Immorality of the Age is Not Occasion’d by the Ale-houses and the Taverns”, in The Compleat English Tradesman. […], volume II, London: […] Charles Rivington […], →OCLC, part II, pages 163–163:
Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at mid-day, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for ever.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Mast-head”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 176:
5
Figuratively Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner.
His pen hovered above the paper.
The strange man hovered outside the gents’ toilet.
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The visitors were hovering at the door, seemingly unwilling to enter.
Some helicopter parents weren’t so much dropping off their kids as hovering over them until the event started.
Alas, this that you ſee, is not Antonio, / His ſpirit houers in Piero’s Court, / Hurling about his agill faculties, / To apprehend the ſight of Mellida: […]c. 1599 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], The History of Antonio and Mellida. The First Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Mathewe Lownes, and Thomas Fisher, […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act IV, signature F4, recto:
Oh! if thou hover'ſt round my vvalk, / VVhile, under ev'ry vvell-knovvn tree, / I to thy fancy'd ſhadovv talk, / And every tear is full of thee.a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Ode”, in [George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton], editor, The Works of James Thomson. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1750, →OCLC, stanza III, page 220:
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Figuratively To be indecisive or uncertain; to vacillate, to waver.
Filling in the voting form, I hovered between Labour and Liberal Democrat.
And the reason why the land-lord will no longer covenant with him [the husbandman], is, for that he dayly looketh after change and alteration, and hovereth in expectation of new worlds.1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC, page 134:
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When the soul is hovering in the last moments of its separation, […] what can support her under such tremblings of thought, such fear, such anxiety, such apprehensions, but the casting of all her cares upon Him who first gave her being, who has conducted her through one stage of it, and will be always with her in her progress through eternity?1712 August 5 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, July 26, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 441; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 175:
Arthur Ashburton was rather cold and distant towards her, and was obviously in a bad temper. He even hovered on the verge of rudeness towards both herself and the Lieutenant.1872, William Black, “‘Prinz Eugen, der edle Ritter’”, in The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 45:
7
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Chiefly followed by over: to use a mouse or other device to place a cursor over something on a screen such as a hyperlink or icon without clicking, so as to produce a result (such as the appearance of a tooltip).
A tooltip appears when you hover over this link.
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Nautical, Transport To travel in a hovercraft as it moves above a water surface.
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.
1
An act, or the state, of remaining stationary in the air or some other place.
2
A flock of birds fluttering in the air in one place.
3
Figuratively An act, or the state, of being suspended; a suspension.
4
Southern England A cover; a protection; a shelter; specifically, an overhanging bank or stone under which fish can shelter; also, a shelter for hens brooding their eggs.
Oyſters grevv vpon boughs of trees (an Indian miracle) vvhich vvere caſt in [the pond] thither, to ſerue as a houer for the fiſh.1609, Richard Carew, “The Second Booke”, in The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC, folio 105, verso:
And now, down the rushing stream, […] past dark hovers under swirling banks, from which great trout rushed out on Tom, thinking him to be good to eat, and turned back sulkily, for the fairies sent them home again with a tremendous scolding, for daring to meddle with a water-baby; […]1862 August – 1863 March, Charles Kingsley, chapter III, in The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., published 1863, →OCLC, page 116:
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Without the instinct of self-preservation, which causes the sea-anemone to contract its tentacles, or the fish to dash into its hover, species would be extermined wholesale by involuntary suicide.1874, Charles Kingsley, “Superstition. A Lecture Delivered at the Royal Institution, London.”, in Health and Education, London: W. Isbister & Co. […], →OCLC, page 234: