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drove en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /dɹoʊv/ (General-American)
• (UK) audio
• (General-American) audio
• /dɹəʊv/ (Received-Pronunciation)

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”). 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.

Meanings

1. (collective) A cattle drive, or a drive of another livestock animal (e.g. sheep). ▸ The herd being driven in a cattle (or other animal) drive; thus, a number of animals driven to market or new pastures; a group of livestock animals more generally.
2. (broadly, figuratively, plural-normally) A cattle drive, or a drive of another livestock animal (e.g. sheep). ▸ A large number of people on the move.
   • in droves
3. (collective) A cattle drive, or a drive of another livestock animal (e.g. sheep). ▸ A group of other animals, especially hares when seen in coursing or hunting.
   • The winner got amongst a drove of hares, and was run to a stand still. 1892, Robert Abram Welsh, Thomas Thacker, “The Coursing Catalogue”, in The [afterw.] Thacker's Courser's annual remembrancer and stud book, by T. Thacker (R.A. Welsh), page 260:
   • The boy hunters had arrived at the wood grove, far off from the wary drove of hares, who resumed foraging cautiously, as before. 2026, T.D. Motley, Planting and Painting the Landscape: A Sequel to The Art of Farming, Stoney Creek Publishing Group:
   • she and her companion got among a regular drove of hares 1894, Dromas, “Review of Coursing Season, 1893-94”, in The Greyhound Stud Book, volume Volume 13, National Coursing Club, page 120:
4. A road or track along which cattle are habitually, used to be or could be driven; a droveway.
5. A narrow drain or channel used in the irrigation of land.
6. A broad chisel used to bring stone to a nearly smooth surface.
7. The grooved surface of stone finished by the drove chisel.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
droves	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Deriveds

in droves · Parson Drove · drover · droveway · drove road

Synonyms

drift

Translations (55)

ota سوری (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · ota سوری (large number of people on the move) · cy haid (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · cy diadell (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · uk табун (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · bg черда (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · fr horde (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · bg стадо (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · ba көтөү (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · es legión (large number of people on the move) · ru ста́до (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · pl stado (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · it pista (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · es tropa (Arg., Bol., Par. and Ur.) (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · it passaggi obbligati (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · fr foule (large number of people on the move) · uk стадо (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · de Herde (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · sh stado (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · sv boskapsled (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · pl dłuto kamieniarskie (broad chisel for stoneworking) · es vía pecuaria (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · tr sürü (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · pl droga pasterska (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · es cañada (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · it attraversamento (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · fr troupeau (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · fi karjapolku (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · bg тълпа (large number of people on the move) · cy praidd (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · pl wąski kanał irygacyjny (narrow drain for irrigation) · ru гурт (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · es manada (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · sv fägata (road or track along which cattle are habitually driven — see also droveway) · it branco (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · es recua (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · it mandria (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · cy gyr (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · tr sürü (large number of people on the move) · es tropel (large number of people on the move) · de Schar (large number of people on the move) · nl kudde (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · ru толпа́ (large number of people on the move) · it calca (large number of people on the move) · cs houf (large number of people on the move) · fi kasteluoja (narrow drain for irrigation) · it massa (large number of people on the move) · fi lauma (group of hares) · pl stado (group of hares) · pl tłum (large number of people on the move) · fr manade (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · it armento (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · mi whiunga (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · cs stádo (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures) · es arreo (number of cattle driven to market or new pastures)

drove en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /dɹoʊv/ (General-American)
• (UK) audio
• (General-American) audio
• /dɹəʊv/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (form-of, past) simple past of drive
   form of drive
   • Iron and coal were the magnets that drew railways to this land of lovely valleys and silent mountains—for such it was a century-and-a-half ago, before man blackened the valleys with the smoke of his forges, scarred the green hills with his shafts and waste-heaps, and drove the salmon from the quiet Rhondda and the murmuring Taff. 1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 157:
   • 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. 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
2. To herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.
   • He's droving now with Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh. 1890, Banjo Paterson, The Man from Snowy River:
   • He was droving his mob of fats to Derby, to ship by the southern boat for Fremantle. 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 11:
3. (dialectal, form-of, participle, past) past participle of drive
   form of drive
   • Not the Horn-Plague, but something worse, Had drove the frighted Cucks from thence. 1706, Edward Ward, Hudibras redivivus, I.10:
   • Then, being on his knees between my thighs, he drew up his ſhirt, and bared all his hairy thighs, and ſtiff ſtaring truncheon, red-topt, and rooted into a thicket of curls, which cover’d his belly to his navel, and gave it the air of a fleſh-bruſh: and ſoon I felt it joining cloſe to mine, when he had drove the nail up to the head, and left no partition but the intermediate hair on both ſides. 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, pages 165–166:
   • We are appealing to any individuals who "have" drove that road who may well have [...] 2019 April 17, Ch Insp Lee, quotee, BBC News:
4. (transitive) To finish (stone) with a drove chisel.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
droving	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
droved	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
droved	Tense=Past		lexicographic
droves	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic

Deriveds

drover

Synonyms

drive

Translations (12)

pl nagonić (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · it transumare (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · pl napędzić (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · it condurre (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · ba ҡыуыу (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · cmn 趕 /赶 (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · cs hnát (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · mi whiuwhiu kararehe (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · pl naganiać (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · it guidare (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · pl napędzać (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance) · mi whiu (to herd cattle, to move cattle over a long distance)