noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A small house or box, often raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments (pigeonholes), in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house.

   "If you haue writ your Annales true, 'tis there, / That like an Eagle in a Doue-cote, I / Flutter'd your Volcians in Corioles."

2. 2
   a birdhouse for pigeons wordnet
3. 3
   In medieval Europe, a round or square structure of stone or wood, free-standing or built into a tower, in which pigeons were kept. historical

Synonyms

All synonyms

columbariumbird cagecolumbariumcolumbarydoocotdoocot

Example

More examples

"In Medieval Europe, the possession of a dovecote was a symbol of status and power."

Etymology

From dove + cote.

Related phrases

flutter in the dovecoteflutter the dovecoteflutter in dovecote

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