rove
rove Lexical Profile
rove Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To travel constantly or wander over a wide area without a fixed destination.
"Herds of wild horses still rove freely across the open plains and foothills."
To move or look rapidly from one point to another in various directions (especially of a person's eyes or gaze).
"Her eyes roved over the crowded bookshelves until she spotted the volume she needed."
To draw out and lightly twist slivers of carded textile fiber before spinning them into yarn.
"The mill workers used specialized machinery to rove the raw cotton before the final spinning stage."
• noun
An act of wandering, roaming, orrambling from place to place without a fixed destination.
"After a long rove through the quiet woodland trails, they returned to the cabin for dinner."
A small metal washer or burr placed over the tip of a copper nail before the point is clinched in traditional boatbuilding.
"The shipwright tapped the copper rove snugly down over the nail shaft before peening the end."
A sliver of carded wool, cotton, or other textile fiber drawn out and slightly twisted in preparation for spinning into yarn.
"She carefully fed the soft wool rove onto the spindle to create an even, sturdy thread."
• Rhymes for rove
Word Origin & Etymology
Dating back to late Middle English, the verb originally meant to shoot arrows at random or casual marks for practice, likely derived from Old Norse *ráfa* ('to wander or stray').