Rove
[rəʊv] or [rov]
Definition
(imp. & p. p.) of Reeve
(v. t.) To draw through an eye or aperture.
(v. t.) To draw out into flakes; to card, as wool.
(v. t.) To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.
(n.) A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boat building.
(n.) A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and slighty twisted, preparatory to further process; a roving.
(v. i.) To practice robbery on the seas; to wander about on the seas in piracy.
(v. i.) 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.
(v. i.) To shoot at rovers; hence, to shoot at an angle of elevation, not at point-blank (rovers usually being beyond the point-blank range).
(v. t.) To wander over or through.
(v. t.) To plow into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows together.
(n.) The act of wandering; a ramble.
Inputed by Cecile
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Roam, ramble, stroll, range, wander, stray, straggle, wander about, rove around, gad about.
Checked by Chiquita
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See DEFEAT]
Edited by Ellis
Definition
v.t. to wander over: to plough into ridges.—v.i. to wander about: to ramble: to range: to aim as in archery at some casual mark: to be light-headed: to be full of fun.—n. a wandering.—ns. Rō′ver one who roves: a robber or pirate: a wanderer: an inconstant person: in archery a person shooting with a long bow and arrow: an arrow used by a rover: an irregular point to be aimed at: in croquet a ball that has gone through all the hoops; Rō′very; Rō′ving the act of wandering.—adv. Rō′vingly.—n. Rō′vingness.—Shoot at rovers to shoot at random.
v.t. to draw through an eye: to bring wool into the form it receives before being spun into thread: to ravel out thread: to undo what has been knit: to card.—n. a roll of wool or cotton drawn out and twisted.—ns. Rō′ving the process of giving the first twist to yarn: a slightly twisted sliver of carded fibre; Rō′ving-frame a machine for the manufacture of cotton and worsted; Rō′ving-machine′ a machine for winding on bobbins; Rō′ving-plate a scraper used for giving a grindstone a true circular form; Rō′ving-reel a device for measuring a hank of yarn.
Typed by Jack
Examples
- Thus far the reddleman had been tolerably successful in his rude contrivances for keeping down Wildeve's inclination to rove in the evening. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- With anxiety I watched his eye rove over the gay stores: he fixed on a rich silk of the most brilliant amethyst dye, and a superb pink satin. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- No lady would rove about the heath at all hours of the day and night as she does. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The little girls had a private tea party, and Ted roved among the edibles at his own sweet will. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- While caressing the spaniel, his eye roved over the papers and books just replaced; it settled on the religious tract. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- For a moment her eyes roved wildly about the scene beneath her. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- You are that restless and that roving-- Yes! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- It covered carding, drawing, and roving machines for use in preparing silk, cotton, flax, and wool for spinning. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- You should not be roving about now; it looks very ill. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- His friend, Milt Adams, went West with quenchless zest for that kind of roving life and aimless adventure of which the serious minded Edison had already had more than enough. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- You are a strange child, Miss Jane, she said, as she looked down at me; a little roving, solitary thing: and you are going to school, I suppose? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I'm roving about so, it's impossible to be regular, you know. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- The halt in that roving, restless life was inexpressibly soothing and pleasant to her. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Typist: Marion