The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hovel \Hov"el\, n. [OE. hovel, hovil, prob. a dim. fr. AS. hof
   house; akin to D. & G. hof court, yard, Icel. hof temple; cf.
   Prov. E. hove to take shelter, heuf shelter, home.]
   1. An open shed for sheltering cattle, or protecting produce,
      etc., from the weather. --Brande & C.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A poor cottage; a small, mean house; a hut.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Porcelain Manuf.) A large conical brick structure around
      which the firing kilns are grouped. --Knight.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hovel \Hov"el\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hoveledor Hovelled; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Hoveling or Hovelling.]
   To put in a hovel; to shelter.
   [1913 Webster]

         To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlon. --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

         The poor are hoveled and hustled together. --Tennyson.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

hovel
    n 1: small crude shelter used as a dwelling [syn: hovel,
         hut, hutch, shack, shanty]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

22 Moby Thesaurus words for "hovel":
   Augean stables, burrow, coop, crib, dump, hole, hut, hutch,
   pesthole, pigpen, pigsty, plague spot, rookery, shack, shanty,
   slum, stable, sty, tenement, the slums, tumbledown shack, warren



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

HOVEL. A place used by husbandmen to set their ploughs, carts, and other
farming utensils, out of the rain and sun. Law Latin Dict. A shed; a
cottage; a mean house.



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

HOVEL, n.  The fruit of a flower called the Palace.

        Twaddle had a hovel,
            Twiddle had a palace;
        Twaddle said:  "I'll grovel
            Or he'll think I bear him malice" --
    A sentiment as novel
        As a castor on a chalice.

        Down upon the middle
            Of his legs fell Twaddle
        And astonished Mr. Twiddle,
            Who began to lift his noddle.
        Feed upon the fiddle-
            Faddle flummery, unswaddle
    A new-born self-sufficiency and think himself a [mockery.]
                                                                  G.J.