Drove

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /dɹəʊv/
• Rhymes: -əʊv
• US
• IPA: /ˈdɹɔʊf/

From Middle English drove, drof, draf, from Old English drāf ("action of driving; a driving out, expulsion; drove, herd, band; company, band; road along which cattle are driven"), from Proto-Germanic *draibō ("a drive, push, movement, drove"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreibʰ- ("to drive, push"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- ("cloudy, dirty, muddy"). Cognate with Scots drave, dreef ("drove, crowd"), Dutch dreef ("a walkway, wide road with trees, drove"), Middle High German treip ("a drove"), Swedish drev ("a drive, drove"), Icelandic dreif ("a scattering, distribution"). More at drive.

Full definition of drove

Noun

1. A number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.
2. (usually in the plural) A large number of people on the move (literally or figuratively).2009, Erik Zachte: New editors are joining English Wikipedia in droves!
3. A road or track along which cattle are habitually driven

Derived terms

• in droves

From earlier drave, from Middle English drave, draf, from Old English drāf, first and third person singular indicative preterite of drīfan ("to drive").

Verb

1. drove

   (simple past of drive)
   .
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 2, I had occasion … to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return … I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, …, and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
2. To herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.

Anagrams

• Dover
• roved