hover

To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.

Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something).

Castration has a ſtrange effect: it emaſculates both man, beaſt, and bird, and brings them to a near reſemblance of the other ſex. […] Capons have ſmall combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets; they alſo vvalk vvithout any parade, and hover chickens like hens.

Of a bird or insect: to flap (its wings) so it can remain stationary in the air.

O'er the deer Corps ſomtimes her vvings ſhe [an eagle] hovers, / Somtimes the dead breſt vvith her breſt ſhe covers, […]

Thus have I lain conceal'd like a vvinter Fly, hoping for ſome bleſt Sun-Shine to vvarm me into Life again, and make me hover my flagging VVings; […]

To remain stationary or float in the air.

The hummingbird hovered by the plant.

[T]hough you go to Theaters to see sport, Cupid may cache you ere you departe. The little god hovereth aboute you, and fanneth you with his wings to kindle fire: when you are set as fixed whites, Desire draweth his arrow to the head, and sticketh it uppe to the fethers, and Fancy bestireth him to shed his poyson through every vayne.

Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner.

His pen hovered above the paper.

The strange man hovered outside the gents’ toilet.

An act, or the state, of remaining stationary in the air or some other place.

A flock of birds fluttering in the air in one place.

An act, or the state, of being suspended; a suspension.

A cover; a protection; a shelter; specifically, an overhanging bank or stone under which fish can shelter; also, a shelter for hens brooding their eggs.

Oyſters grevv vpon boughs of trees (an Indian miracle) vvhich vvere caſt in [the pond] thither, to ſerue as a houer for the fiſh.

And now, down the rushing stream, […] past dark hovers under swirling banks, from which great trout rushed out on Tom, thinking him to be good to eat, and turned back sulkily, for the fairies sent them home again with a tremendous scolding, for daring to meddle with a water-baby; […]

A surname.