rove

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹəʊv/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹoʊv/
• Rhymes: -əʊv

Etymology 1

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”).

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To shoot with arrows (at).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

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

2. (intransitive) To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 1, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1985, Shane MacGowan (lyrics and music), “A Pair of Brown Eyes”, in Rum Sodomy & the Lash, performed by The Pogues:

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

3. (transitive) To roam or wander through.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

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

4. (transitive) To card wool or other fibres.
   • 1835, Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufacturers:

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

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.
   • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, , London: George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, , →OCLC:

     pirates, roving up and downe the sea

Derived terms

• rover
• roved
• roving

Related terms

• reeve

Translations

Noun

rove (plural roves)

1. A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched in boatbuilding.
2. A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and lightly twisted, preparatory to further processing; a roving.
3. The act of wandering; a ramble.
   • 1745, [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 Millar , and R Dodsley , published 1750, →OCLC, page 318:

     In thy nocturnal rove one moment halt.

Derived terms

• rove beetle

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Verb

rove

1. simple past of rive
2. simple past of reeve

Anagrams

• -vore, Over, Vore, over, over-, vore

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

rove

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of roven

Anagrams

• over, Voer, voer

Finnish

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *robëh (compare Ingrian rove, Karelian roveh, Veps robeh). Probably derived from the onomatopoeic root of ropista.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈroʋeˣ/,
• Rhymes: -oʋe
• Syllabification^(key): ro‧ve

Noun

rove

1. Small container made of birch bark.

   Synonyms: kosio, ropponen, tuokkonen

   • 1891, Juhana Kokko, Kruunun Metsissä, →ISBN:

     Sillä välin hän sitoi haavansa, otti sitten ropeen, joi raikasta vettä ja varustausi matkalle.

     In the meanwhile, he dressed his wounds before taking a rove, drinking fresh water and preparing for the trip.

2. (by extension) A container of similar size but any material, when used to store mämmi (a traditional fasting dish).
   • 2016 March 27, Teemu Stubin, “Juha Miedon mämmiurakka lähti käsistä: Yli 48 000 kilokalorin pommi!”, in Iltalehti:

     24 rovetta oli jätetty tuohon oven eteen, Mieto kertoo.

     24 roves had been left right there before my door, explains Mieto.

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

• “rove”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

Anagrams

• vero

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *robëh. Cognates include Finnish rove and Veps robeh.

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈroʋe/,
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈroʋe/,
• Rhymes: -oʋe
• Hyphenation: ro‧ve

Noun

rove

1. small basket made of birch bark

Declension

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 487