dovecote

A dovecote (sense 1) with birds.

From dove +‎ cote.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌvkɒt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌvkɑt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dove‧cote

dovecote (plural dovecotes)

1. A small house or box, often raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments (pigeonholes), in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house.

   Synonyms: columbarium, (Scotland) doocot, dovehouse, pigeon loft

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi], page 30:

     If you haue writ your Annales true, 'tis there, / That like an Eagle in a Doue-cote, I / Flutter'd your Volcians in Corioles.

   • 2003, Peter Ackroyd, The Clerkenwell Tales, page 2:

     she could see the malt-house with its dovecote

2. (historical) In medieval Europe, a round or square structure of stone or wood, free-standing or built into a tower, in which pigeons were kept.

• dovecot

• flutter in the dovecote
• flutter the dovecote

• dove