Rove

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ɹəʊv/
• Rhymes: -əʊv

Of uncertain origin; perhaps a dialectal form of rave.

Full definition of rove

Verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To shoot with arrows (at).
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene I.3:And thou ... that with thy cruell dart
  At that good knight so cunningly didst roue ....
2. (intransitive) To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
• 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 1Now that he was in his prime, there was no simian in all the mighty forest through which he roved that dared contest his right to rule, nor did the other and larger animals molest him.
3. (transitive) To roam or wander through.
• MiltonRoving the field, I chanced
  A goodly tree far distant to behold.
4. (transitive) To card wool or other fibres.
5. To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.
6. To draw through an eye or aperture.
7. To plough into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows together.
8. To practice robbery on the seas; to voyage about on the seas as a pirate.

Derived terms

• rover
• roved
• roving

Related terms

• reeve

Noun

1. A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boatbuilding.
2. A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and lightly twisted, preparatory to further processing; a roving.
3. The act of wandering; a ramble.
• YoungIn thy nocturnal rove one moment halt.

Inflected forms.

Verb

1. rove

   (simple past of rive)

Anagrams

• over
• vore