rove1
/rəʊv
/- It was certainly on my mind as I roved around Gate 5 of Comiskey Park before the 74th All-Star game on the South Side of Chicago.
- For many years this was a dangerous frontier land, where pirates roved and merchantmen ventured at their peril.
- Foul-mouthed mobs roved around the dark Edinburgh streets, looting and vandalising premises owned by Italians.
Synonyms
- In the mid-1800s, they roved the streets of St. John's, sometimes attacking spectators or fighting with rival bands.
- From the haggard look, rag tag clothing and matted hair it was not difficult to identify her as the mad woman who roved the streets.
- Like the vast majority of people living in Mexico, he buys his music from one of the 12,000 street vendors who rove the country.
- What is out there course-wise for would-be roving reporters?
- You'll probably be just a little sickened to hear it's been pretty much plain sailing for this up-and-coming roving reporter.
- For years he was literally on his feet as a roving reporter, plunged into regions of conflict or crisis to try to make sense of it all for us.
- All eyes rove for something catchy at a handicrafts exhibition - for something utilitarian that will appeal to your aesthetic sense too.
- His eyes roving around the room, searching for a way out of this mess.
- He unsheathed his father's sword and held it in both hands, his eyes roving over the blade with the ancient runes and the ornately designed handle.
Origin
Late 15th century (originally a term in archery in the sense 'shoot at a casual mark of undetermined range'): perhaps from dialect rave 'to stray', probably of Scandinavian origin.
rob from Middle English:
The words rob and robe come from the same ancient root, a word meaning ‘booty’—clothing would have been the kind of property stolen in a raid. To rob Peter to pay Paul is to take something away from one person to pay another. The expression probably refers to the apostles St Peter and St Paul, who in Christian art are often shown together as equals. Although the earliest examples feature robbery, other versions have cropped up over the centuries, such as unclothe Peter to pay Paul and borrow from Peter to pay Paul. The last example probably helped in the additional meaning ‘to pay off one debt only to incur another’. The Scottish and English reavers or reivers, who plundered each other across the border got their name from ‘to reave’, another form of the original word, and those who are bereaved (Old English) have also been robbed of something precious—bereft is the old form of the word. A rover (Middle English) was originally another form of the word, but to rove (Late Middle English) is a different word: it was originally a term in archery meaning ‘shoot at a casual mark of undetermined range’. This may be from dialect rave ‘to stray’, probably of Scandinavian origin.
Rhymes
rove2
/rəʊv/rove3
/rəʊv/Origin
Late 18th century: of unknown origin.
rove4
/rəʊv/- For door experts, it is made of four plain oak boards, held in place by an edging frame and four half-round ledges, all fastened by neat clasping elongated roves.
- The posts and the keel would then be joined with iron roves to start the hull, with the three main sections being wedged securely upright with wooden props.
Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse ró, with the addition of parasitic -v-.