covert Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a flock of coots
  2. noun a covering that serves to conceal or shelter something
    concealment; screen; cover.
    • 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
  3. adjective secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed
    • covert actions by the CIA
    • covert funding for the rebels
  4. adjective satellite (of a wife) being under the protection of her husband
    • a woman covert

WordNet

Cov"ert adjective
Etymology
OF. covert, F. couvert, p. p. of couvrir. See Cover, v. t.
Definitions
  1. Covered over; private; hid; secret; disguised.
    How covert matters may be best disclosed. Shak.
    Whether of open war or covert guile. Milton
  2. Sheltered; not open or exposed; retired; protected; as, a covert nook. Wordsworth.
    Of either side the green, to plant a covert alley. Bacon.
  3. (Law) Under cover, authority or protection; as, a feme covert, a married woman who is considered as being under the protection and control of her husband. Syn. -- Hidden; secret; private; covered; disguised; insidious; concealed. See Hidden.
Cov"ert noun
Etymology
OF. See Covert, a.
Definitions
  1. A place that covers and protects; a shelter; a defense.
    A tabernacle . . . for a covert from storm. Is. iv. 6.
    The highwayman has darted from his covered by the wayside. Prescott.
  2. Cf. F. couverte. (Zoöl.) One of the special feathers covering the bases of the quills of the wings and tail of a bird. See Illust. of Bird.

Webster 1913