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:
Sales in the Asia-Pacific region drove quarterly growth, rising by 17% on year after the acquisition of the store network of optical retailer Top Charoen, which owns around 2,000 stores in Thailand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"On the way to the hospital, we drove past KFC so that must have been why it was in my head," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The restaurant chain reported higher profit in its second quarter as increased customer traffic from menu innovation and marketing efforts drove revenue.
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 animals drove him into an inexplicable anxiety.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Someone must have explained to him that the wealthy already are fleeing Britain in droves, and such an increase would generate much less revenue than advertised.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
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
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
They quit in droves, unable to accustom their bodies to the new pace of the age.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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 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
He remembered the droving days, when the drove roads, that now lie green and solitary through the heather, were thronged thoroughfares.
From Memories and Portraits by Stevenson, Robert Louis
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.
