Hover

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈhɒvə/

Definitions

1. To remain suspended in the air in one place, or to linger near something without settling
2. To stay aloft in a specific area while not fully landing, or to pause closely above an object or surface without direct contact
3. To maintain a position in the air without substantial movement, or to be present nearby without making physical contact

Etymology: The verb "hover" is an odd sort of survival: its base, "hove," has dropped out of ordinary English, and "hover" lives on as a lightly disguised version of it. "Hove" once meant to remain suspended, float, or linger, and it came from a Old English-era verb "hebban," meaning "to lift, raise," whose ancestors sent the sense of heaving upward into Germanic languages. Middle English speakers took the older "hoven," used of a bird soaring high in the air, and added a frequentative suffix, "-er," which signals repeated or continued action. The result was a verb for doing again and again what "hove" did once: floating in place. The meaning has stayed close to that picture. A hen hovering over her chicks, a hummingbird hanging at a flower, or a helicopter holding its position above a boat all share the idea of staying aloft without moving forward. The same sense of lingering in one spot has been carried over to the screen, where a cursor hovers over a hyperlink.

Synonyms: float, suspend, linger, drift, hang

Antonyms: sink, plunge, drop, descend, settle