Rove

/ɹəʊv/ · verb

Meaning

(obsolete, intransitive) To shoot with arrows (at)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To shoot with arrows (at).
2. (intransitive) To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
3. (transitive) To roam or wander through.
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.

Example Sentences

And thou […] that with thy cruell dart / At that good knight so cunningly didst roue […]

Now 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.

And a rovin’, a rovin’, a rovin’ I'll go / For a pair of brown eyes

Roving the field, I chanced / A goodly tree far distant to behold.

The rein-deer, which in Scandinavia can scarcely exist to the south of the sixty-fifth parallel, descends, in consequence of the greater coldness of the climate, to the fiftieth degree, in Chinese Tartary, and often roves into a country of more southern latitude than any part of England.

Although both [flax and wool] must be roved and spun upon similar principles, each requires peculiar modifications in its machinery.

pirates, roving up and downe the sea

In thy nocturnal rove one moment halt.

Synonyms for rove

Antonyms for rove

Related Words

Word Forms

• roves
• roving
• roved

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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