rove

rove
    v 1: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in
         search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the
         woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The
         cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from
         one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town"
         [syn: {roll}, {wander}, {swan}, {stray}, {tramp}, {roam},
         {cast}, {ramble}, {rove}, {range}, {drift}, {vagabond}]
    

Reeve \Reeve\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rove} (r[=o]v); p. pr. & vb.
   n. {Reeving}.] [Cf. D. reven. See {Reef}, n. & v. t.] (Naut.)
   To pass, as the end of a pope, through any hole in a block,
   thimble, cleat, ringbolt, cringle, or the like.
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Rove \Rove\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Roved}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Roving}.] [Cf. D. rooven to rob; akin to E. reave. See
   {Reave}, {Rob}.]
   1. To practice robbery on the seas; to wander about on the
      seas in piracy. [Obs.] --Hakluyt.
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   2. 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.
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            For who has power to walk has power to rove.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
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   3. (Archery) To shoot at rovers; hence, to shoot at an angle
      of elevation, not at point-blank (rovers usually being
      beyond the point-blank range).
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            Fair Venus' son, that with thy cruel dart
            At that good knight so cunningly didst rove.
                                                  --Spenser.
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   Syn: To wander; roam; range; ramble stroll.
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Rove \Rove\ (r[=o]v), v. t. [perhaps fr. or akin to reeve.]
   1. To draw through an eye or aperture.
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   2. To draw out into flakes; to card, as wool. --Jamieson.
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   3. To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool
      or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.
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Rove \Rove\ (r[=o]v), n.
   1. A copper washer upon which the end of a nail is clinched
      in boat building.
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   2. A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and slighty
      twisted, preparatory to further process; a roving.
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Rove \Rove\, v. t.
   1. To wander over or through.
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            Roving the field, I chanced
            A goodly tree far distant to behold.  --milton.
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   2. To plow into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows
      together.
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Rove \Rove\, n.
   The act of wandering; a ramble.
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         In thy nocturnal rove one moment halt.   --Young.
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   {Rove beetle} (Zool.), any one of numerous species of beetles
      of the family {Staphylinidae}, having short elytra beneath
      which the wings are folded transversely. They are rapid
      runners, and seldom fly.
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73 Moby Thesaurus words for "rove":
      Wanderjahr, afoot and lighthearted, bat around, bum, bumming,
      count ties, discursion, divagate, divagation, drift, drifting, err,
      errantry, excurse, flit, flitting, gad, gad about, gadding,
      gallivant, go about, go adrift, go astray, go the rounds,
      hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, hoboism, itineracy, itinerancy,
      jaunt, knock about, knock around, meander, mooch, nomadism,
      nomadize, peregrinate, peregrination, pererrate, pererration,
      prowl, ramble, rambling, range, roam, roaming, roving, run about,
      saunter, snake, straggle, stray, straying, stroll, traipse,
      traipsing, tramp, twist, twist and turn, vagabond, vagabondage,
      vagabondia, vagabondism, vagabondize, vagrancy, walk the tracks,
      wander, wandering, wanderlust, wayfare, wayfaring, wind