roves

Verb

rove (third-person singular simple present roves, present participle roving, simple past and past participle roved)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To shoot with arrows (at).
   • And thou […] that with thy cruell dart / At that good knight so cunningly didst roue […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
2. (intransitive) To roam, or wander about at random, especially over a wide area.
   • Now that he was in his prime, there was no simian in all the mighty forest through which he roved that dared contest his right to rule, nor did the other and larger animals molest him.1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 1, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert]...
3. (transitive) To roam or wander through.
   • Roving the field, I chanced / A goodly tree far distant to behold.1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
4. (transitive) To card wool or other fibres.
   • Although both [flax and wool] must be roved and spun upon similar principles, each requires peculiar modifications in its machinery.1835, Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufacturers
5. To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.
6. To draw through an eye or aperture.

See all 12 meanings of rove