- cover
- cover vb Cover, overspread, envelop, wrap, shroud, veil are comparable when meaning to put or place or to be put or placed over or around.Cover may imply the putting or placing by a conscious agent or unconscious agency of something on top{
cover a box
}{cover a garbage pail
}{the lid covers the kettle tightly
}or on or over a surface (as of a circumscribed area or body){snow covered the ground
}{cover a table with a cloth
}{clothes that cover the entire body
}{cover the shore with wreckage
}In these uses cover often carries an additional implication of hiding, enclosing, protecting, or sheltering; indeed, in some use the emphasis is upon one of these implications, the basic idea being obscured{their advance was covered by squadrons of airplanes
}{he covered his anxiety by joining in the laugh
}{there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed—Mr 10:26
}In still another sense cover implies an extending so far as to include, embrace, or comprise something{left scarcely enough money to cover his debts
}{this point has already been covered in the argument
}{Chaucer's life covered the last sixty years of the fourteenth century
}{I think your statement covers the matter completely
}{a situation not covered by the rules
}Overspread usually implies a covering by something that diffuses itself or spreads over a surface; the word carries no clear implication of concealing, sheltering, or protecting, but it does suggest the activity of something that flows, expands, or scatters until the entire surface is covered{clouds overspread the sky
}{the ground is overspread with weeds
}{a blush overspread his face
}{the rising waters quickly overspread the valley
}Envelop suggests the presence or addition of something that surrounds and therefore covers or nearly covers a person or thing on all sides; it is often used of a gas or a liquid or of clothing{enveloped in a fur overcoat
}{enveloped in water up to his chin
}{till the sweet . . . incense-laden atmosphere . . . enveloped her like a warm and healing garment— Rose Macaulay
}Envelop lends itself to extension and often connotes something impalpable or immaterial as the enveloping element{words stir our feelings . . . through their enveloping atmosphere of associations— Lowes
}{we are surely justified in . . . calling the spiritual presence which envelops us the spirit of Christ— Inge
}Wrap comes very close to envelop in meaning, but it suggests something that folds or winds about so as to enclose rather than surround; the difference, although sometimes slight, is usually important to idiomatic usage; thus, one wraps (better than envelops) oneself in blankets or one wraps up (not envelops) several bars of soap{a closely wrapped female figure approached— Hardy
}In extended use wrap usually suggests something that enfolds, enshrouds, or entangles{all the household were wrapped in slumber
}{the place was suddenly wrapped in darkness when the lights gave out
}{he found the roots of the poplar wrapped closely about the drainpipe
}{the mother was wrapped up in the welfare of her son
}Shroud and veil, in their extended senses, imply a covering that protects, conceals, or disguises, but shroud usually emphasizes the density and veil the comparative tenuity of the surrounding element{the queen, shrouded in deepest mystery— Carlyle
}{its proceedings were impenetrably shrouded from the public eye— Prescott
}{the hills, shrouded in grey mist— Buchari
}{their [women's] beauty, softened by the lawn that thinly veiled it— Radcliffe
}{her eyes were quick under a faint dimness that merely veiled their vigor— Roberts
}Antonyms: barecover n *shelter, retreat, refuge, asylum, sanctuaryAnalogous words: hiding or hiding place, concealment, screening or screen (see corresponding verbs at HIDE): safety, security (see corresponding adjectives at SAFE)Antonyms: exposure
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
