A covey of schoolchildren approached. A covey of reporters came to the event.
Recent Examples on the WebHome gardens may see nesting mourning dove, a covey of baby quail, or the miracle of tiny hummingbird chicks hatching from miniature eggs in a nest not much bigger than a large thimble. Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Aug. 2022 This slower afternoon there were couples strolling, a few runners, a covey of bicycles, a family out for an autumn city walk — kids, parents, an older woman moving carefully using a walker. Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Dec. 2021 Soon the covey moved on, and the quail whispers faded with them.San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2021 Some mornings there will be a covey of as many as 30 quail feeding in our garden.San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Sep. 2019 Chukar also did well in southeast Oregon and coveys are relatively numerous in the popular Hells Canyon.oregonlive, 20 Sep. 2019 Small coveys will slip out of the native vegetation into our garden and gather every day at our seed feeders. Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Aug. 2019 The thin layer of ice on the washes sparkled in the sunshine, and occasionally a covey of birds exploded from beneath the brush, adding cymbals to an otherwise easy listening classical movement. Joe Drape, New York Times, 12 June 2018 Transported from Georgia, the covey of quail had been released from a crate just days after 10 inches of snow fell and trees came crashing down in the wind. Frank Kummer, Philly.com, 2 May 2018 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French covee sitting (of hen), from cover to sit on, brood over, from Latin cubare to lie