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alcove|ælˈkəʊv, ˈælkəʊv|
[a. Fr. alcôve, ad. Sp. Pg. alcova, alcoba, ad. Arab. al-qobbah, i.e. al the + qobbah a vault, a vaulted chamber; f. qubba to vault.]
1. A vaulted recess; especially,
a. ‘A recess, or part of a chamber, separated by an estrade or partition, and other correspondent ornaments; in which is placed a bed of state, and sometimes seats to entertain company.’ J. In Spain applied also to the recess for the bed in an ordinary chamber.
[1623Minsheu Sp. Dict., Alcoba, a closet, a close roome for a bed.] 1676D'Urfey Mad. Fickle iv. ii. (1677) 43 D'ee hear 'em Sir— they're yonder in th' Alcove. 1678Phillips, Alcove, a recess within a chamber for the setting of a Bed out of the way; where for state many times the Bed is advanced upon two or three ascents with a rail at the feet. 1688in Burnet Own Time (T.) Of these eighteen were let into the bed-chamber; but they stood at the furthest end of the room. The ladies stood within the alcove. 1725Pope Odyss. iii. 510 Deep in a rich alcove the prince was laid, And slept beneath the pompous colonnade. a1733North Lives of Norths I. 272 A large hall was built with a sort of alcove at one end for distinction. 1753Hanway Travels (1762) I. vii. xcii. 422 His bed..was in a small alcove or niche. 1878G. Macdonald Ann. Quiet Neighb. vi. 74 She emerged from a recess in the room, a kind of dark alcove.
b. An arched recess or niche in the wall of any building or apartment, of a cave, etc.
1786Cowper Gratitude 33 This china that decks the alcove Which here people call a buffet. 1830Milman Hist. Jews I. i. (ed. 2) 21 The common cemetery..is usually hewn out of the rock..with alcoves in the sides, where the coffins are deposited. 1856Miss Muloch John Halif. 159 John and I were in the alcove of the window. 1872O. Shipley Gloss. Eccl. Terms 175 In England these [Easter] sepulchres are often permanent alcoves.
2. A recess in a garden or pleasure ground, originally in the surrounding wall or hedge; but in later usage, Any covered retreat, a bower or summerhouse.
1706Addison Rosamond i. vi, Amaranths, and Eglantines, With intermingling sweets have wove The particolour'd gay Alcove. 1766C. Anstey Bath Guide ix. 58 Some to Lincomb's shady groves, Or to Simpson's proud Alcoves. 1817Coleridge Biogr. Lit. 249 The women and children feasting in the alcoves of box and yew. 1863M. Howitt tr. Bremer's Greece II. xvi. 146 A lofty rugged rock, formed by nature into a rude alcove. 1870D. Rossetti Poems, Jenny (1871) 123 And in the alcove coolly spread Glimmers with dawn your empty bed. |