rove

Meanings

Verb

• To shoot with arrows (at).
• To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
• To roam or wander through.
• To card wool or other fibres.
• 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.
• Past of rive
• Past of reeve

Noun

• 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.

Origin

• 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").
• Inflected forms.