drove
1 Americanverb
noun
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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:
The Latin America market drove strength in second-quarter sales, and the Oreo and Cadbury owner now expects at least 2% growth in organic net revenue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Higher jet fuel prices drove the larger loss, though JetBlue offset about half of the impact through higher fares and strong customer demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
I drove to my job at a middle school, where more legal observers patrolled outside.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
The guest house owners came to take him back, while his aunt and uncle drove up to be with him.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
As their ancestors had done before them, they at last drove the Zebak from their lands.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
As droves of tourists flock to Yosemite, it raises the question: Is it still possible to have a fun time there despite the crowds?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 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
"People started arriving in droves, they started bringing tools. But the firefighters who were there said it was impossible to get through, and they left."
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 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
And people were still pulling out of Philadelphia in droves.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Cattle that have been two weeks at grass may, however, be safely droved.
From Cattle and Cattle-breeders by M'Combie, William
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
I simply drove into the subject and when it comes to droving into a subject a Durante admits no peers.
From Time Magazine Archive
Proper attention was no doubt paid to the droving, the men who had charge of them being trained to the occupation.
From Cattle and Cattle-breeders by M'Combie, William
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.
