n. An open shed for sheltering cattle, or for protecting produce, farming implements, etc., from the weather.n. A poor cottage; a small mean house; a wretched habitation.n. A canopy with hanging sides over a statue; a niche for a statue.n. In porcelain manufacturing, a cone-shaped brick structure surrounded by the ovens or firing-kilns.To put in or as in a hovel; house meanly.To form like an open hovel or shed: as, to hovel a chimney. See hoveling.