Noun

Singular cove

Plural coves

cove (plural coves)

1. (now rare) A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern. [from 9th c.]
2. (architecture) A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling. [from 16th c.]
3. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds. [from 16th c.]
4. (now dialectal) A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain. [from 19th c.]
5. (nautical) The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship. [from 19th c.]
6. (nautical) A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level. [from 19th c.]

A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves. Colloquially, the term can be used to describe a sheltered bay.

Geomorphology describes coves as precipitously walled and rounded cirque-like openings as in a valley extending into or down a mountainside, or in a hollow or nook of a cliff or steep mountainside.

Coves, like bays, are formed by differential erosion. Differential erosion is when softer rocks are worn away faster than the harder rocks surrounding them. These rocks further erode to form a circular bay with a narrow entrance called a cove.

An example of a cove is Lulworth Cove on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, England. West of it a second cove, Stair Hole, is forming.