- past tense form of drive.
drove
1 Americanverb
noun
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droves
plural
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a number of oxen, sheep, or swine driven in a group; herd; flock.
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Usually droves a large crowd of human beings, especially in motion.
They came to Yankee Stadium in droves.
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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.
verb (used with or without object)
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to drive or deal in (cattle) as a drover; herd.
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Masonry. to work or smooth (stone) as with a drove.
noun
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a herd of livestock being driven together
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(often plural) a moving crowd of people
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a narrow irrigation channel
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Also called: drove chisel. a chisel with a broad edge used for dressing stone
verb
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(tr) to drive (a group of livestock), usually for a considerable distance
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(intr) to be employed as a drover
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to work (a stone surface) with a drove
verb
Synonym Usage
See flock 1.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of drove
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English drāf “that which is driven,” i.e., “herd, flock”; akin to drive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He is a resident of the small town of Julian in San Diego County, authorities said, and drove across the country from California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Sales in Canada’s wholesale sector rose 2.8% between May and June, the strongest advance in more than three years as the machinery, equipment and supplies sector drove broad gains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Growing up in Stockton, where a high concentration of braceros tended fields, Huerta said witnessing the workers’ subpar conditions drove her early activism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
"I drove into Moscow yesterday from the provinces," says Lyubov.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
A wind came up and drove the snow.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
“Eleanor Rigby” attracted a post-55 audience in droves, while the good-natured storyline and nautical sound effects inherent in “Yellow Submarine” drew children and pre-teens into The Beatles’ camp.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Their numbers increased exponentially as droves began "fleeing the Covid mess … on the East Coast and West Coast," says Mark Corner, president of Southwest Montana Realtors.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
The app has boosted lesser-known businesses and sent tourists in droves to unconventional locations such as Zibo, a quiet industrial city in Shandong, after its cheap, marinated barbecue skewers went viral.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
To the droves of Portuguese fans who packed NRG Stadium just to lay eyes on him, Ronaldo had never left.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
They visited my truck in droves, as many as fifteen at a time in the little cabin.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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 Captain's Road, which links two droving inns, Tibbie Shiel's and Tushielaw, was one of the earliest metalled roads connecting the Ettrick and Yarrow valleys.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2022
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
When this girl's father, old Jim Carew, Was droving out on the Castlereagh With Conroy's cattle, a wire came through To say that his wife couldn't live the day.
From The Man from Snowy River by A. B. (Andrew Barton) Paterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
