Sc. Also cavey, cavy. [app. a. MDu. kēvie, Du. or Flem. kevie, 16th c. Flem. also kavie (Plantin 1573), cage, coop, corresp. to OHG. chevia, MHG. kevje, Ger. käfig, käfich cage:—WGer. kavia str. fem., a. late L. *cavia, for cavea cage, coop, den, etc., f. cavus hollow.]
A hen-coop; a house for fowls.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, Jrnl., v. (1884), 142. It is just like a cavy full of men, instead of hens.
1805. J. Nicol, Poems, II. 90 (Jam.). Nor duck, nor turkie-cavie enter’d.
1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, 56 (Jam.). Croose as a cock in his ain cavie.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxv. Cooped up in a convent, like a kain-hen in a cavey.
