Showing results for "drove"

• past tense form of drive.

drove

¹ American  

[drohv] / droʊv /

verb

1. simple past tense of drive.

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drove ² American  

[drohv] / droʊv /

noun

• droves
  plural

1. a number of oxen, sheep, or swine driven in a group; herd; flock.

2. Usually droves a large crowd of human beings, especially in motion.

   They came to Yankee Stadium in droves.

3. Also called drove chisel. Masonry. a chisel, from 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) broad at the edge, for dressing stones to an approximately true surface.

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verb (used with or without object)

droved, droving

1. to drive or deal in (cattle) as a drover; herd.

2. Masonry. to work or smooth (stone) as with a drove.

drove ¹ British  

/ drəʊv /

noun

1. a herd of livestock being driven together

2. (often plural) a moving crowd of people

3. a narrow irrigation channel

4. Also called: drove chisel. a chisel with a broad edge used for dressing stone

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verb

1. 1. (tr) to drive (a group of livestock), usually for a considerable distance

   2. (intr) to be employed as a drover

2. to work (a stone surface) with a drove

drove ² British  

/ drəʊv /

verb

1. the past tense of drive

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Synonym Usage

See flock ¹.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• droves
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of drove

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English drāf “that which is driven,” i.e., “herd, flock”; akin to drive

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

drove droves droved droving

Maybe you drove a car that was one magnitude of size smaller than you could have had.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

But he conceded that what Vance had said about the Iran war was "largely true because it drove the gasoline up" -- a key issue for voters angered by the rising cost of living.

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026

Semiconductor and pharmaceutical stocks drove the advance in Hong Kong, with Hua Hong Grace surging 16% and Wuxi AppTec jumping 12%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

A vague sense that the sheriff is “always in the news” for something good was part of what drove Rafael Nolasco to support his candidacy for a second term.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Mom honked the horn at him—three light, happy honks—and then she drove away.

From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold

Voters turned out in droves, and named democracy as one of their primary concerns, along with corruption, for their votes.

From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026

Buzz around the game has also spawned viral “Saturday Night Live” sketches, and YouTube skits about droves of workers all putting in for the same time off in order to play the game.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2026

He was the leader of the military when it began a 2017 crackdown evicting Rohingya in droves from their homes in western Myanmar.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

We thought Gen Z had started going to church in droves.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

People were flowing up to Harlem in droves, from the South, from Chicago, from everyplace.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

Cattle that have been two weeks at grass may, however, be safely droved.

From Cattle and Cattle-breeders by William M'Combie

In a practice known as turkey droving, thousands of birds, some wearing tiny leather boots, were herded through fields and along rough roads on a three-month journey.

From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025

The bridge across the River Rede was situated on a historic droving route used by farmers to move large numbers of sheep and cattle between England and Scotland.

From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2020

Gunbar, a dusty village with fewer than 100 people, is typical of the stops along the droving route of rutted, red dust roads.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2014

Growing up in Moree, in outback New South Wales, he would go droving at weekends while he was still at school.

From Time Magazine Archive

John had had an inkling of the difficulties of droving, but the reality turned out to be immeasurably worse than the anticipation.

From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang

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