From Middle English covert, from Old French covert, past participle of covrir (“to cover”) (corresponding to Latin coopertus); cognate to cover. Not closely related to overt, despite what the most common pronunciation would suggest.

• Adjective:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊvɜːt/, /kəʊˈvɜːt/, /ˈkʌvət/ (dated)
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊvɚt/, /koʊˈvɜɹt/, /ˈkʌvɚt/ (dated)

  • Audio (UK); /ˈkəʊvɜːt/:

    (file)

  • Audio (UK); /kəʊˈvɜːt/:

    (file)

  • Audio (UK, dated); /ˈkʌvət/:

    (file)

• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌvət/, /ˈkəʊvɜːt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊvɚt/, /ˈkʌvɚt/, /ˈkʌvɚ/ (dated)

  • Audio (UK); /ˈkʌvət/:

    (file)

covert (comparative more covert, superlative most covert)

1. (figuratively) Secret, surreptitious, concealed.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:covert

   Antonym: overt

   covert operations

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     how covert matters may be best disclosed

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     whether of open war or covert guile

   • 2010 September 28, Marc Ambinder, “A Step Forward for Oversight of Intelligence”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     If the President were to inform the Gang of Eight that he signed a covert action finding to overthrow the government of Canada, he would be required to tell others at least something about the finding.

   • 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[2], volume 189, number 7, page 26:

     Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms to help it interpret the colossal amounts of data it has collected from its covert dragnet of international telecommunications.

2. (now rare) Hidden, covered over; overgrown, sheltered.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Within that wood there was a covert glade,
     Foreby a narrow foord, to them well knowne […]

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     to plant a covert alley

3. (law, historical) Under coverture.

   Synonym: covert baron

   feme covert

   • 1880, Weekly Notes of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the County Courts of Philadelphia, and the United States District and Circuit Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, page 292:

     […] a separate use for a woman cannot be created unless she is covert, or unless in immediate contemplation of her marriage.

   • 1890, Albert Gibson, Robert McLean, Law Notes, page 77:

     […] in the second case, as long as the woman is covert she cannot anticipate the income, and a mere alienation of her interest is not an attempt to anticipate.

   • 1906, Abraham Clark Freeman, The American State Reports: Containing the Cases of General Value and Authority Subsequent to Those Contained in the "American Decisions" [1760-1869] and the "American Reports" [1869-1887] Decided in the Courts of Last Resort of the Several States [1886-1911], page 305:

     Being advised of the fact that the woman is covert, he stands charged with a knowledge of her disability . A married woman has no power to deal as principal if she is in fact a surety […]

• cover

covert (plural coverts)

1. A covering.
2. A disguise.
3. A hiding place.
4. Area of thick undergrowth where animals hide.
5. (ornithology) A feather that covers the bases of flight feathers.
   • 1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter I, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):

     When he felt the trappings being taken off him, so that he was in hunting order, Cully did make some movements as if to rouse. He raised his crest, his shoulder coverts and the soft feathers of his thighs.

• corvet, vector

• IPA^(key): /ˈkavɐt/

• Audio:

  (file)

covert

1. inflection of covern:
   1. third-person singular present
   2. second-person plural present
   3. second-person plural subjunctive I
   4. plural imperative

• cuvert
• covri

From Latin coopertus.

covert

1. past participle of covrir

• English: covert
• French: couvert