reeve
1 Americannoun
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an administrative officer of a town or district.
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British. an overseer or superintendent of workers, tenants, or an estate.
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British. (formerly) a person of high rank representing the crown.
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Canadian. the presiding officer of a village or town council.
verb (used with object)
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reeves,
present (3rd person singular)
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reeved,
past participle, past
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rove,
past
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roven,
past participle
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reeving
present participle
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to pass (a rope or the like) through a hole, ring, or the like.
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to fasten by placing through or around something.
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to pass a rope through (the swallow of a block).
noun
noun
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English history the local representative of the king in a shire (under the ealdorman) until the early 11th century Compare sheriff
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(in medieval England) a manorial steward who supervised the daily affairs of the manor: often a villein elected by his fellows
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canadian government (in certain provinces) a president of a local council, esp in a rural area
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(formerly) a minor local official in any of several parts of England and the US
verb
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to pass (a rope or cable) through an eye or other narrow opening
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to fasten by passing through or around something
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reevesimple
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reevessimple
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have reevedperfect
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have rovenperfect
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has reevedperfect
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has rovenperfect
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am reevingprogressive
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are reevingprogressive
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is reevingprogressive
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have been reevingperfect progressive
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has been reevingperfect progressive
Past
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reevedsimple
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rovesimple
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had reevedperfect
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had rovenperfect
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was reevingprogressive
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were reevingprogressive
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had been reevingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reeve1
First recorded before 900; Middle English (i)reve, refe, reive “royal administrative or judicial officer,” Old English gerēfa “high royal offiicial, fiscal officer, prefect”; further origin uncertain; cf. sheriff
Origin of reeve2
First recorded in 1600–10; of uncertain origin; perhaps from Dutch reven “to reef”; see reef 2
Origin of reeve3
First recorded in 1625–35; origin uncertain
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:
Dave Carlson, the reeve of Emerson-Franklin, said instances of people crossing the border outside the checkpoint have dropped significantly in recent years.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 20, 2022
Other states followed suit, and as Judge Vanderbilt says, the "judges campaigned for judicial office in the hustings with the other candidates of the political parties from sheriff to hog reeve."
From Time Magazine Archive
I was just about to emerge from the woods and run toward our hut when I caught sight of the bailiff, Roger Kinsworthy, and the reeve, Odo Langland.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
I could fed him standing there watching me as I tried to reeve the lengths, but I knew they weren’t fitting together.
From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor
When the reeve and the four men attend the sheriff's tourn or the eyre, they do not represent the lord only, but also the village community.
From Villainage in England Essays in English Mediaeval History by Paul Vinogradoff
In Cornish, for fun, newly married couples are appointed honorary hog reeves each year.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2010
Generations ago, towns appointed hog reeves — people who caught livestock that ran away — each year at a town meeting.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2010
"I cannot give such a promise, for it will lie with the Sheriff and reeves of Guildford."
From Sir Nigel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The other six they sent ashore again, bearing letters to Castell's friends, agents, and reeves, as to the transfer of his business and the care of his lands, houses, and other properties during his absence.
From Fair Margaret by Henry Rider Haggard
Greater delicacies even than ruffs and reeves were godwits, which were fatted in like manner for the table.
From The Confessions of a Poacher by Anonymous
Thirty-one inches above the headpiece is a pulley reeved with a rope with handles on one end, ankle straps on the other.
From Time Magazine Archive
The tame ones then returned to land, and he swam after the boat to the ship, where tackle was reeved to the sail-cloth, and he was hoisted on board.
From Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon by Sir James Emerson Tennent
A sailor climbed the pole by nailing on cleats, pulled down the British flag, and reeved new halyards.
From A Brief History of the United States by John Bach McMaster
With this knowledge, therefore, I spliced the eye, and made the knot as firm as possible, and then the loop was reeved through, and the thing was ready.
From The Hunters' Feast Conversations Around the Camp Fire by Mayne Reid
While all this was going on a deckhand had reeved a block and tackle through the end of the cargo gaff and passed it to the winch.
From Captain Scraggs or, The Green-Pea Pirates by Gordon Grant
Its species name honors Dr. Harald Schillhammer of the Natural History Museum Vienna for his extensive and outstanding contributions to rove beetle research.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
I hired an electric violinist to rove around the bathhouse and play during the event.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
One version of Bolt-ee is mounted on wheels and semi-autonomous, so that it can rove around to reach a vehicle that needs a quick hit of power.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2024
In response, Metro says it transferred pairs of security guards from elsewhere to rove the H Line, which connects downtown to Burien, “for the foreseeable future,” spokesperson Al Sanders said.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
Never the flaming eye of Helios lights on those men at morning, when he climbs the sky of stars, nor in descending earthward out of heaven; ruinous night being rove over those wretches.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Wychecombe, too, was aware that these particular halyards were new, for he had assisted in reeving them himself, only the week before.
From The Two Admirals by James Fenimore Cooper
It was accomplished by reeving a line from hole to hole by means of the long slender pole already mentioned.
From The Hunters' Feast Conversations Around the Camp Fire by Mayne Reid
Slops paused in his hauling and reeving to shake a fist at Solomon.
From In the Days of Poor Richard by Irving Bacheller
No human being could hold on in such a gale, far less perform the intricate task of reeving fresh halliards and wires.
From The Wireless Officer by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
We could see some of her crew aloft reeving and stopping braces and ready to repair any damage done, working as coolly under fire as old man-of-war's men.
From Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue by Various
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.
