DCHP-1 Online

cove

• 1 n. Hist. one of a number of coves on the St. Lawrence River, near Quebec, where square timbers, staves, spars, etc. for export were stored in booms for trans-shipping after being rafted down from the lumber camps.

  See also: timber cove  

  • 1818  Several rafts lay in the cove [at Quebec]. . . .
  • 1829  The timber-merchants regret that they were not found to answer; as they had cleared their ponds and coves of lumber. . . .
  • 1945  The best coves were those which needed long containing piers; that is they were situated at places where the river bottom sloped out gradually, leaving a wide space of tidal flats between high and low water. Coves were not established where the water deepened suddenly, for this would have given little or no area for working or for storage

• 2 n. Nfld, Local See quote.

  • 1958  Yet, when you stand on the street itself [Water Street, St. John's, Nfld] and look down on one of the coves, the name given to the short sharply pitched streets leading to the waterfront . . . you do get a glimpse of days gone by.