COVER UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cover up mean? 

• COVER UP (verb)
  The verb COVER UP has 1 sense:

1. hide from view or knowledge

  Familiarity information: COVER UP used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COVER UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hide from view or knowledge

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

cover; cover up

Context example:

The President covered the fact that he bugged the offices in the White House

Hypernyms (to "cover up" is one way to...):

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

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

gloss over; hush up; sleek over; whitewash (cover up a misdemeanor, fault, or error)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cover-up (concealment that attempts to prevent something scandalous from becoming public)

 Context examples 

Nice thing, isn't it? and Laurie gave them a sample of its powers that made them cover up their ears.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I clung with both hands till my nails ached, and I shut my eyes as if to cover up the peril.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“When I left her in America,” she continued, “it was only because her health was weak, and the change might have done her harm. She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant. Never for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child. But when chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you. I had to choose between you, and in my weakness I turned away from my own little girl. For three years I have kept her existence a secret from you, but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all was well with her. At last, however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though I knew the danger, I determined to have the child over, if it were but for a few weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave her instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a neighbour, without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighbourhood. If I had been less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear that you should learn the truth.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)