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Webster 1913 Edition

Drove

Drove

,
imp.
of
Drive
.

Drove

,
Noun.
[AS.
drāf
, fr.
drīfan
to drive. See
Drive
.]
1.
A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body.
2.
Any collection of irrational animals, moving or driving forward;
as, a finny
drove
.
Milton.
3.
A crowd of people in motion.
Where
droves
, as at a city gate, may pass.
Dryden.
4.
A road for driving cattle; a driftway.
[Eng.]
5.
(Agric.)
A narrow drain or channel used in the irrigation of land.
Simmonds.
6.
(Masonry)
(a)
A broad chisel used to bring stone to a nearly smooth surface; – called also
drove chisel
.
(b)
The grooved surface of stone finished by the drove chisel; – called also
drove work
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Drove

DROVE

, pret. of drive.

DROVE

,
Noun.
1.
A collection of cattle driven; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep or swine, driven in a body. We speak of a herd of cattle, and a flock of sheep, when a number is collected; but properly a drove is a herd or flock driven. It is applicable to any species of brutes. Hence,
2.
Any collection of irrational animals, moving or driving forward; as a finny drove.
3.
A crowd of people in motion.
Where droves, as at a city gate, may pass.
4.
A road for driving cattle. [English.]

Definition 2024

drove

drove

English

Noun

drove ‎(plural droves)

  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. (collective) A group of hares.
  4. A road or track along which cattle are habitually driven.
  5. A narrow drain or channel used in the irrigation of land.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Simmonds to this entry?)
  6. A broad chisel used to bring stone to a nearly smooth surface.
  7. The grooved surface of stone finished by the drove chisel.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Verb

drove ‎(third-person singular simple present droves, present participle droving, simple past and past participle droved)

  1. simple past tense of drive.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      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.
    • Paterson
      He's droving now with Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh.
  3. (transitive) To finish (stone) with a drove chisel.

Translations

Anagrams

Etymology

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 *dʰreybʰ- ‎(“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.

Pronunciation

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