rove (root: reeve)

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

rove, v. t. [perhaps fr. or akin to reeve.].

•  To draw through an eye or aperture.  [1913 Webster]
•  To draw out into flakes; to card, as wool.  Jamieson.  [1913 Webster]
•  To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.  [1913 Webster]

rove, n. 

•  A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boat building.  [1913 Webster]
•  A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and slighty twisted, preparatory to further process; a roving.  [1913 Webster]

rove, v. i. [Cf. D. rooven to rob; akin to E. reave. See Reave, Rob.].

•  To practice robbery on the seas; to wander about on the seas in piracy.  Hakluyt.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, to wander; to ramble; to rauge; to go, move, or pass without certain direction in any manner, by sailing, walking, riding, flying, or otherwise.  [1913 Webster]

  "For who has power to walk has power to rove."  [1913 Webster]
•  To shoot at rovers; hence, to shoot at an angle of elevation, not at point-blank (rovers usually being beyond the point-blank range).  [1913 Webster]

  "Fair Venus' son, that with thy cruel dart
  At that good knight so cunningly didst rove."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To wander; roam; range; ramble stroll.

rove, v. t. 

•  To wander over or through.  [1913 Webster]

  "Roving the field, I chanced
  A goodly tree far distant to behold."  [1913 Webster]
•  To plow into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows together.  [1913 Webster]

rove, n. 

 The act of wandering; a ramble.  [1913 Webster]
"In thy nocturnal rove one moment halt."  [1913 Webster]

Rove beetle (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of beetles of the family Staphylinidæ, having short elytra beneath which the wings are folded transversely. They are rapid runners, and seldom fly.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

rove, v. & n.
--v.
1 intr. wander without a settled destination, roam, ramble.
2 intr. (of eyes) look in changing directions.
3 tr. wander over or through.
--n. an act of roving (on the rove).

Idiom

rove-beetle any long-bodied beetle of the family Staphylinidae, usu. found in decaying animal and vegetable matter. roving commission authority given to a person or persons conducting an inquiry to travel as may be necessary. roving eye a tendency to ogle or towards infidelity.

rove, past of REEVE(2).

rove, n. & v.
--n. a sliver of cotton, wool, etc., drawn out and slightly twisted.
--v.tr. form into roves.

rove, n. a small metal plate or ring for a rivet to pass through and be clenched over, esp. in boat-building.

Etymology

ON r{oacute}, with excrescent v

THESAURUS

rove

Wanderjahr, afoot and lighthearted, bat around, bum, bumming, count ties, discursion, divagate, divagation, drift, drifting, err, errantry, excurse, flit, flitting, gad, gad about, gadding, gallivant, go about, go adrift, go astray, go the rounds, hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, hoboism, itineracy, itinerancy, jaunt, knock about, knock around, meander, mooch, nomadism, nomadize, peregrinate, peregrination, pererrate, pererration, prowl, ramble, rambling, range, roam, roaming, roving, run about, saunter, snake, straggle, stray, straying, stroll, traipse, traipsing, tramp, twist, twist and turn, vagabond, vagabondage, vagabondia, vagabondism, vagabondize, vagrancy, walk the tracks, wander, wandering, wanderlust, wayfare, wayfaring, wind

ROGET THESAURUS

rove

Journey

VB travel, journey, course, take a journey, go a journey, take a walk, go out for walk, have a run, take the air, flit, take wing, migrate, emigrate, trek, rove, prowl, roam, range, patrol, pace up and down, traverse, scour the country, traverse the country, peragrate, circumambulate, perambulate, nomadize, wander, ramble, stroll, saunter, hover, go one's rounds, straggle, gad, gad about, expatiate, walk, march, step, tread, pace, plod, wend, go by shank's mare, promenade, trudge, tramp, stalk, stride, straddle, strut, foot it, hoof it, stump, bundle, bowl along, toddle, paddle, tread a path, take horse, ride, drive, trot, amble, canter, prance, fisk, frisk, caracoler, caracole, gallop, embark, board, set out, hit the road, get going, get underway, peg on, jog on, wag on, shuffle on, stir one's stumps, bend one's steps, bend one's course, make one's way, find one's way, wend one's way, pick one's way, pick one's way, thread one's way, plow one's way, slide, glide, coast, skim, skate, march in procession, file on, defile, go to, repair to, resort to, hie to, betake oneself to.

Deviation

VB alter one's course, deviate, depart from, turn, trend, bend, curve, swerve, heel, bear off, gybe, wear, intervert, deflect, divert, divert from its course, put on a new scent, shift, shunt, draw aside, crook, warp, stray, straggle, sidle, diverge, tralineate, digress, wander, wind, twist, meander, veer, tack, divagate, sidetrack, turn aside, turn a corner, turn away from, wheel, steer clear of, ramble, rove, drift, go astray, go adrift, yaw, dodge, step aside, ease off, make way for, shy, fly off at a tangent, glance off, wheel about, face about, turn to the right about, face to the right about, waddle, go out of one's way, lose one's way.