To put something over or upon so as to protect, shut in, or conceal; overlay; overspread or envelop with something; specifically, to put a cover or covering (designed for the purpose) upon: as, to cover a dish; to cover a chair with plush; to cover a table with a cloth; to cover the body with clothes.To hide or screen as by something overspread or intervening, either literally or figuratively; cause to be invisible or unobserved; put out of sight or consideration: as, the top of the mountain was covered by a cloud; they sought to cover their guilt: often followed by up: as, the thieves covered up their tracks.To pardon or remit: a scriptural use.Reflexively and figuratively, to invest or overspread (one's self or one's reputation with): as, he covered himself with glory.To shelter; protect; defend: as, a squadron of horse covered the retreat.To put the usual head-covering on; replace the hat on.To travel or pass over; move through: as, the express covered the distance in fifteen minutes.To copulate with: said of male animals.To be equal to; be of the same extent or amount; be coextensive with; be equivalent to: as, the receipts do not cover the expenses.To include, embrace, or comprehend: as, an offense not covered by any statute; the explanation does not cover all the facts of the case.To aim at directly; bring into effective range and aim, as of a rifle or other firearm: as, he covered the thief with his pistol; hence, to command, in a military sense: occupy a commanding position with regard to.To brood or sit on, as a hen on eggs or chicks.To counterbalance; compensate for: as, to cover one's loss.To contain; comprise.In architecture, a recess left in a brick or stone wall to receive the roofing. Gwilt. Also covert-way.To envelop or be spread over something so that it is invisible: specifically said of opaque paints (those having “body”), which readily conceal the material upon which they are spread.To lay a table for a meal; prepare a banquet.To put one's hat on.n. Something which is laid, placed, or spread over or upon another thing to inclose, close, envelop, or protect it: as, the cover of a box or a dish; the cover of a bed; the cover of a book.n. Something which veils, screens, or shuts from sight; an obstruction to vision or perception; a concealment; a screen; a disguise: as, to address a letter under cover to another person; he assumed the disguise of a merchant as a cover for his design.n. Shelter of any kind; defense, as against the weather or an enemy; protection: as, the troops fought under cover of the batteries.n. Shrubbery, woods, thicket, underbrush, etc., which shelter and conceal game: as, to beat a cover; to ride to cover.n. In roofing, that part of a slate, tile, or shingle which is covered by the overlap of the course above.n. [Cf. F. couvert, with same sense: see couvert.] The utensils, such as plate, knives, forks, spoons, napkin, wine-glasses, etc., required at table by one person: so called because originally brought together in a case, or in compact form, for transportation, traveling, or the like: as, the traveling cover of King George IV. in the Jones collection at South Kensington; to lay a cover.n. The cap-head or end-piece of an upright steam-cylinder.To gain; win; get; obtain.To restore; recover; heal; cure.To get on; advance.To recover; get well.In hockey, basket-ball, and other sports, to stand by the side of or in front of (an opponent), so as to render it impossible for him to make a play.In cricket, to field; to catch or stop (the ball) and return it.In card-playing, to play a higher card on a card led or played, when the higher card is not the best of the suit: as, queen on jack, when the ace and king have not yet boon played.n. In cricket, cover-point; a fielder who stands behind point, and more in the direction of the bowler; also, his position in the field.n. In calico-printing, a fine pattern engraved on a roller to be printed over a pattern in resist.n. In making a butt-joint in riveted work with plates, the lap-piece which covers the joint and is riveted to the butting edges. The double butt-joint has an outer and an inner cover-plate.n. The ordinary measure of land in South Wales, two thirds of an imperial acre.