Hovel

//ˈhɒvəl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An open shed for sheltering cattle, or protecting produce, etc., from the weather.
  2. 2
    small crude shelter used as a dwelling wordnet
  3. 3
    A poor cottage; a small, mean house; a hut. derogatory

    "'Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominion over sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch in his palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathe therein.'"

  4. 4
    In the manufacture of porcelain, a large, conical brick structure around which the firing kilns are grouped.
  5. 5
    A straitjacket. Midwestern-US, archaic, slang
Verb
  1. 1
    To put in a hovel; to shelter. transitive

    "To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn."

  2. 2
    To construct a chimney so as to prevent smoking, by making two of the more exposed walls higher than the others, or making an opening on one side near the top. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English hovel, hovil, hovylle, diminutive of *hove, *hof (“structure, building, house”), from Old English hof (“an enclosure, court, dwelling, house”), from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą (“hill, farm”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“arch, bend, buckle”), equivalent to howf + -el. Compare Middle High German hobel (“cover, lid, covered wagon”). Cognate with Dutch hof (“garden, court”), German Hof (“yard, garden, court, palace”), Icelandic hof (“temple, hall”). Related to hove and hover.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hovel, hovil, hovylle, diminutive of *hove, *hof (“structure, building, house”), from Old English hof (“an enclosure, court, dwelling, house”), from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą (“hill, farm”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (“arch, bend, buckle”), equivalent to howf + -el. Compare Middle High German hobel (“cover, lid, covered wagon”). Cognate with Dutch hof (“garden, court”), German Hof (“yard, garden, court, palace”), Icelandic hof (“temple, hall”). Related to hove and hover.

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