drove

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dɹəʊv/, X-SAMPA: /dr\@Uv/
  • Rhymes: -əʊv
• (US) IPA: /dɹoʊv/, X-SAMPA: /dr\oUv/

• (Can we verify this pronunciation?) IPA: /ˈdɹɔʊf/ X-SAMPA: /dr\OUf/

Etymology 1

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 *dʰreibʰ- (“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.

Noun

drove (plural droves)

1. A number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.
2. (usually plural) A large number of people on the move (literally or figuratively).

   2009, Erik Zachte: New editors are joining English Wikipedia in droves!

3. A road or track along which cattle are habitually driven

Translations

a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures

• Bulgarian: черда, стадо
• French: troupeau (fr) m, manade (fr) f, horde (fr) f

• Russian: гурт (ru) (gurt) m, стадо (ru) (stádo) n
• Spanish: manada (es) f, horda (es) f, legión (es) f

a large number of people on the move

• Russian: толпа (ru) (tolpá) f

a road or track along which cattle are habitually driven

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

1. Simple past of drive.

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

1. to herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.

Anagrams

• Dover
• roved