HOVER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hover mean? 

• HOVER (verb)
  The verb HOVER has 5 senses:

1. be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action

2. move to and fro

3. hang in the air; fly or be suspended above

4. be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of gravity

5. hang over, as of something threatening, dark, or menacing

  Familiarity information: HOVER used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOVER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hover    ... he / she / it hovers   
Past simple: hovered   
Past participle: hovered   
-ing form: hovering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

hover; oscillate; vacillate; vibrate

Context example:

He oscillates between accepting the new position and retirement

Hypernyms (to "hover" is one way to...):

hesitate; waffle; waver (pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hover"):

shillyshally (be uncertain and vague)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move to and fro

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

hover; linger

Context example:

The shy student lingered in the corner

Hypernyms (to "hover" is one way to...):

hesitate; waffle; waver (pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hang in the air; fly or be suspended above

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "hover" is one way to...):

fly; wing (travel through the air; be airborne)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hover"):

poise (be motionless, in suspension)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sentence examples:

Some big birds hover in the tree
There hover some big birds in the tree

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be suspended in the air, as if in defiance of gravity

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

hover; levitate

Context example:

The guru claimed that he could levitate

"Hover" entails doing...:

arise; come up; go up; lift; move up; rise; uprise (move upward)

Verb group:

levitate (cause to rise in the air and float, as if in defiance of gravity)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Hang over, as of something threatening, dark, or menacing

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

brood; bulk large; hover; loom

Context example:

The terrible vision brooded over her all day long

Hypernyms (to "hover" is one way to...):

hang (be menacing, burdensome, or oppressive)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "hover"):

dominate; eclipse; overshadow (be greater in significance than)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sentence examples:

Some big birds hover in the tree
There hover some big birds in the tree

 Context examples 

The island being then hovering over a mountain about two miles from it, I was let down from the lowest gallery, in the same manner as I had been taken up.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She was exactly the same as ever, and the same immortal butterflies hovered over her cap.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There they noticed a large bird hovering in the air, flying slowly round and round above them; it sank lower and lower, and at last settled near a rock not far away.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The Inuit, natives of Greenland, live in extremely cold conditions that can hover in the negative digits in winter.

(Genetic Adaptations to Diet and Climate, NIH)

After a slight repose, during which the spirits of the dead hovered round and instigated me to toil and revenge, I prepared for my journey.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The scientists rated each session based on the number of minutes of courtship by the male – shown by sustained hovering near or actively chasing the females.

(Butterflies are genetically wired to choose a mate that looks just like them, University of Cambridge)

Challenger's pencil hovered over the great blank which marked the lake.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All day Jo and Meg hovered over her, watching, waiting, hoping, and trusting in God and Mother, and all day the snow fell, the bitter wind raged, and the hours dragged slowly by.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Results showed the horse flies hovered over both types of animals at roughly the same rate but, over zebras, they did not always slow down fast enough to land successfully.

(Zebra stripes may 'dazzle' pathogen-packing horse flies, Wikinews)

According as the shifting obscurity and flickering gleam hovered here or glanced there, it was now the bearded physician, Luke, that bent his brow; now St. John's long hair that waved; and anon the devilish face of Judas, that grew out of the panel, and seemed gathering life and threatening a revelation of the arch-traitor—of Satan himself—in his subordinate's form.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)