Bove

//bʌv// name, prep, slang

name, prep, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Preposition
  1. 1
    Above. colloquial, dialectal

    "Her Sea-god syre she dearely did perswade, T'endow her sonne with threasure and rich store, Boue all the sonnes, that were of earthly wombes ybore."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

    "Homan, who was on the ground in Chicago, maintained it was a “criminal operation.” Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove was also in Chicago on Sunday to observe immigration enforcement operations."

Example

More examples

"Her Sea-god syre she dearely did perswade, T'endow her sonne with threasure and rich store, Boue all the sonnes, that were of earthly wombes ybore."

Etymology

Probably an apheretic form of above. Alternatively, this word may continue Middle English bove, boven, from Old English bufan, from Proto-West Germanic *biobanā, from *bi (“by”) + *ufanā (“from above”). Compare West Frisian boppe, Dutch boven and Low German baven, boven.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.