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 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
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
Before the ealdorman of the shire, and the gerefa or reeve, was Egwina taken.
From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Lucy Foster Madison
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
In Cornish, for fun, newly married couples are appointed honorary hog reeves each year.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2010
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
Railes and heathpolts, ruffs, and reeves, are excellent meat wherever they can be met with.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 379, July 4, 1829 by Various
In polar voyaging, following up serpentine channels in the ice, till the vessel reaches open water, or reeves the pack.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
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
It was reeved through an iron ring that jutted from the stone.
From The Caves of Fear by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin
Corresponding were five stationary sheaves, the whole reeved to form an immense 12-purchase tackle.
From Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower, 1889 by Robert M. Vogel
A hammock aboard ship is of canvas, seven feet long, with holes a few inches apart at each end, through which are reeved pieces of strong cord.
From A Gunner Aboard the "Yankee" by Russell Doubleday
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
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
Parker, speaking from his office, which is decorated in white decals of rove beetles — which his lab exclusively focuses on — said it pays to explore “obscure branches of the tree of life.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
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
His small milky-blue eyes would rove the Hall for the full sixty minutes, searching for trouble, and heaven help the boy who caused it.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
It generally means the extremity of the yard, and it is fitted with sheave-holes for reeving sheets through.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
Tackles, he learned, are formed by reeving ropes several times backwards and forwards through blocks.
From Ben Hadden or, Do Right Whatever Comes Of It by William Henry Giles Kingston
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
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
Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard, while reeving the studding-sail halyards.
From Ned Myers or, a Life Before the Mast by James Fenimore Cooper
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.
