Stays suspended in air without landing; or lingers near something in an uncertain way.
From Middle English 'hove,' possibly from Old Norse 'hóf.' The term entered English in the 1400s with the sense of floating or hesitating.
Hummingbirds can hover because their wings beat in a figure-eight pattern that creates lift on both forward and backward strokes—it's the same principle helicopters use, and actually humans copy nature's flight solutions so often that biomimicry is now a whole engineering field.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.