cover

The word “cover” means to place something over another thing to protect, conceal, or shield it. In plain terms, to put something over or protect something, to deal with a topic, to be enough money for something, or (as a noun) the outer face of a book or a re-recorded version of a song.

“Cover” is pronounced KUH-vuh (/ˈkʌvɚ/ in IPA).

Here is “cover” used in a sentence: “She covered the leftovers with plastic wrap.”

Depending on how it is used, “cover” can be a verb and a noun.

The word “cover” comes from Late Latin. From Old French covrir, from Late Latin coperire, ultimately from Latin cooperiō ("to cover completely") — built from co- (intensive prefix) plus operiō ("to close, cover").

“Cover” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Cover” has 5 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to place something over another thing to protect, conceal, or shield it.

To cover something is to place a layer over it, which may protect, shield, or conceal it. To hide is specifically to keep something out of sight. You can cover a table with a cloth purely for protection, but you hide something only when concealment is the actual goal.

You can cover something to protect it, such as covering furniture with sheets; to conceal it, like covering a stain; or to shield it, as when you cover your face from the sun. The core idea is always placing one thing over another for a purpose.

You might say, "Please cover the leftovers before putting them in the fridge," or "She covered the sleeping child with a blanket." In both cases something is placed over another thing to protect, shield, or conceal it, which is the essence of the verb.

The most natural opposites are uncover, expose, and reveal. Where cover places a layer over something to protect or conceal it, these words remove that layer and bring the thing into view. "Uncover" is the direct reversal, while "expose" and "reveal" stress the resulting visibility.