house doven.
/ˈhaʊs dʌv/, U.S. /ˈhaʊs ˌdəv/ 1. A domestic dove or pigeon; a dove kept in or suitable for a dove-house. Also: any pigeon that frequents houses, as a feral pigeon.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Columbiformes (pigeons, etc.) > [noun] > family Columbidae > dove > tame
house dove?a1450
?a1450 in W. G. Benham Oath Bk. Colchester (1907) 4 (MED) House dowes or any other tame fowle.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 233/1 Housedove, coulomb.
1594 R. Barnfield Affectionate Shepheard sig. D House-Doues are white, and Oozels Blacke-birds bee.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 200 Cockes, Hennes,..House-doues.
1686 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation (ed. 3) iii. 131 If you have a desire to take House-doves, Stock-doves, Rooks, Coughs, or any other-like Birds, then take Wheat, Barley, [etc.].
1772 J. Rutty Ess. Nat. Hist. Dublin I. 304 The common Pigeon or House Dove.
1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne 111 Unless the stock-dove in the winter varies greatly in manners from itself in summer, no species seems more unlikely to be domesticated, and to make an house-dove.
1829 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 6 94 The tame dove is generally found near the habitations of men, and makes short excursions when it goes abroad. On this account, it is..called peristera katoikidea, or house dove.
1896 Westm. Rev. 145 416 The white house-doves flutter all day..about the russet apples and the ruddy cherries of the grass-grown orchards.
1916 M. Fuller New Eng. Childhood xii. 154 In the grape-wreathed eaves a house dove murmured.
1949 Physiol. Zool. 22 82/2 In the case of the house dove successful defense of individual territory is bound to result in occasional successful attacks by the weaker bird.
2004 Evening Herald (Plymouth) (Nexis) 16 Mar. 8 The Public Health Act..gives local authorities powers to take steps to deal with nuisance or damage caused in built-up areas by house doves, feral pigeons, starlings or house sparrows.
2. figurative. A person, esp. a woman, who stays in the house or who prefers to be at home rather than to travel, participate in social activities, etc.; a home bird, a homebody; a cautious or unadventurous person. Now rare.
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society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [noun] > attachment to home life > person
house dove1579
houseling1598
house bird1601
home-sittera1657
housekeepera1741
Sunday man1769
homester1819
homebird1821
homebody1821
stay-at-home1836
homeboy1847
homegirl1847
stay-putter1927
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 244 Then the hometarriers and housedoues that kept Rome still, beganne to repent them that it was not their happe to goe with him.
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. K3 You are proude such a house doue of late, or rather so good a Huswife, that no man may see you vnder a couple of Capons.
1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 20 Take me not as a house Dove, to imploy my selfe in spinning, sowing, and keeping the chimney corner.
1692 T. D'Urfey Marriage-hater Match'd iii. iii. 32 Sit at home all day like a House-Dove, and if I have you there be glad and merry.
1742 O. Sedgewick Universal Masquerade II. vii. 168 The young Ladies, as they knew themselves to be House Doves, did not make such Haste from Tea to dress as they used to do.
1867 Arthur's Home Mag. 29 109/2 He, soaring with eagle's wings in the vast realm of thought, and she, a tame house dove, fluttering close to earth.
1874 W. Chappell Roxburghe Ballads II. 294 While other wives are allowed..to go to plays,..and to spend their coin on ale or wine, this barbarian of a husband expects her to be a house-dove, and not to fly abroad and roam.
1907 W. F. Kirby tr. Kalevala II. l. 262 What has happened to our house-dove, That she casts aside her girdle, Always dresses loosely, beltless, Goes in secret to the bathroom, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.?a1450