Drove Definition

drōv

droved, droves, droving

noun

droves

A number of cattle, hogs, sheep, etc. driven or moving along as a group; flock; herd.

Webster's New World

A crowd or body of people, esp. when moving or acting together.

Webster's New World

A broad-faced chisel for grooving or dressing stone.

Webster's New World

A stonemason's broad-edged chisel used for rough hewing.

American Heritage

A grooved surface made with this chisel.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

To finish (stone) with a drove chisel.

Webster's New World

Webster's New World

Simple past tense of drive.

Wiktionary

To herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Drove

Singular:

drove

Plural:

droves

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.

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

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English drāf from drīfan to drive dhreibh- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition