doven

verb

1. (dialectal, form-of, participle, past)past participle of dive

   ““Now,” said Bobbit, with an amazing chuckle for a boy who was going to give to-morrow’s dinner to another boy, “you walk right along as ef you was going to walk a mile, and when you see I ’ve doven — dive!” The next they knew after that, Bobbit had “doven” into the old engine boiler, and they after him.”

   “Knowin’ what I do know, divin’ deep into the heights and depths of men’s naters as I have doven, I knew that this would break Serepta’s chains.”

   “I didn’t go onto the heights and depths of filosofy, on which I so many times had flew and doven;[…]But not studyin’ it out as I have, not divin’ into the subject so deep as I have doven, it galled Tirzah Ann to see Mrs. Skidmore put on such airs.”

   “But I sez, “Nobody can dive into deeper depths than I have doven to-day.” / “The ocean?” sez she. / “Oceans of anxiety,” sez I, “rivers of grief.””

2. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of daven.

   “I vatched^([sic]) through the portholes as they would doven and chant / ‘Hey, mein Liebe, heyyyy.’”

   “We played at this intelligence base, and then dovened Maariv, again word by word.”

   “THERE once was a king, old and a little crazy, who summoned the Chief Rabbi of his kingdom. “Rabbi,” he said, “there’s one thing I’d like to see. I want you to teach my pet monkey how to doven.””

   “They knew how to doven, to pray, but they didn’t understand what the heck they were reading. And some of them couldn’t doven either!”