rove

EnglishEdit

WOTD – 20 January 2016

Probably from Middle English *roven, a Midlands variant of Northern Middle English raven (“to wander”), from Old Norse ráfa (“to rove; stray about”). Cognate with Icelandic ráfa (“to wander”), Scots rave (“to wander; stray; roam”).

rove (third-person singular simple present roves, present participle roving, simple past and past participle roved)

(obsolete, intransitive) To shoot with arrows (at).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene I.3:
  And thou […] that with thy cruell dart / At that good knight so cunningly didst roue […]
(intransitive) To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
- 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 1
  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.
(transitive) To roam or wander through.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
  Roving the field, I chanced / A goodly tree far distant to behold.
(transitive) To card wool or other fibres.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)
To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.
To draw through an eye or aperture.
To plough into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows together.
To practice robbery on the seas; to voyage about on the seas as a pirate.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Hakluyt to this entry?)

to wander about at random

rove (plural roves)

A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boatbuilding.
A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and lightly twisted, preparatory to further processing; a roving.
The act of wandering; a ramble.
- 1742, [Edward Young], “Night the Ninth and Last. The Consolation. Containing, among Other Things, I. A Moral Survey of the Nocturnal Heavens. II. A Night-Address to the Deity. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] [Samuel Richardson] for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, OCLC 753424981, page 318:
  In thy nocturnal rove one moment halt.

Inflected forms.

rove

rove

rove

Inflection of rove (Kotus type 48/hame, p-v gradation)
nominative		rove	ropeet
genitive		ropeen	ropeiden ropeitten
partitive		rovetta	ropeita
illative		ropeeseen	ropeisiin ropeihin
		singular	plural
nominative		rove	ropeet
accusative	nom.	rove	ropeet
accusative	gen.	ropeen	ropeet
genitive		ropeen	ropeiden ropeitten
partitive		rovetta	ropeita
inessive		ropeessa	ropeissa
elative		ropeesta	ropeista
illative		ropeeseen	ropeisiin ropeihin
adessive		ropeella	ropeilla
ablative		ropeelta	ropeilta
allative		ropeelle	ropeille
essive		ropeena	ropeina
translative		ropeeksi	ropeiksi
instructive		—	ropein
abessive		ropeetta	ropeitta
comitative		—	ropeineen

Possessive forms of rove (type hame)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	ropeeni	ropeemme
2nd person	ropeesi	ropeenne
3rd person	ropeensa