ROVING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Roving

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/rˈoʊvɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Rove v. t.

1.

To draw through an eye or aperture.

2.

To draw out into flakes; to card, as wool.

3.

To twist slightly; to bring together, as slivers of wool or cotton, and twist slightly before spinning.

Rove v. t.

1.

To wander over or through. "Roving the field, I chanced A goodly tree far distant to behold."

2.

To plow into ridges by turning the earth of two furrows together.

Rove v. i. (past & past part. roved; pres. part. roving)

1.

To practice robbery on the seas; to wander about on the seas in piracy. (Obs.)

2.

Hence, to wander; to ramble; to rauge; to go, move, or pass without certain direction in any manner, by sailing, walking, riding, flying, or otherwise. "For who has power to walk has power to rove."

3.

(Archery) To shoot at rovers; hence, to shoot at an angle of elevation, not at point-blank (rovers usually being beyond the point-blank range). "Fair Venus' son, that with thy cruel dart At that good knight so cunningly didst rove."

Synonyms: To wander; roam; range; ramble stroll.

noun

Roving n.

1.

The operatin of forming the rove, or slightly twisted sliver or roll of wool or cotton, by means of a machine for the purpose, called a roving frame, or roving machine.

2.

A roll or sliver of wool or cotton drawn out and slightly twisted; a rove. See 2d Rove, 2.

Roving frame, Roving machine, a machine for drawing and twisting roves and twisting roves and winding them on bobbin for the spinning machine.

Roving n. The act of one who roves or wanders.

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Etymology of 'Roving'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Roving" Quotes from Famous Books

... upon him, which could not be brought to break or to suppurate; but by laying strong caustics on them the surgeons had, it seems, hopes to break them, which caustics were then upon him, burning his flesh as with a hot iron. I cannot say what became of this poor man, but I think he continued roving about in that manner till he fell down ...

— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe

... and worried also. She loved Jims dearly and would feel deeply giving him up in any case; but if Jim Anderson were a different sort of a man, with a proper home for the child, it would not be so bad. But to give Jims up to a roving, shiftless, irresponsible father, however kind and good-hearted he might be—and she knew Jim Anderson was kind and good-hearted enough—was a bitter prospect to Rilla. It was not even likely Anderson ...

— Rilla of Ingleside • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... Atreus," said he, "I deem that we should now turn roving home if we would escape destruction, for we are being cut down by war and pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest or prophet, or some reader of dreams (for dreams, too, are of Jove) who can tell us why Phoebus ...

— The Iliad • Homer

... assessed at twenty-five to one. The old-fashioned heaven was a poor thing beside it, and his shirt was on the daughter of Shirt-on-fire. But how much more than his shirt depended on this granddaughter of Suspender! At that roving age of forty-five, trying to Forsytes—and, though perhaps less distinguishable from any other age, trying even to Darties—Montague had fixed his current fancy on a dancer. It was no mean passion, but without money, and a ...

— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... graceful in their shape and Gnatty in their general appearance. The common mosquito is remarkable for its strong attachments. It follows man with more than canine fidelity, and in some cases, the dog-like pertinacity of its affection can only be restrained by Muslin. It is of a roving disposition, seldom remaining settled long in one locality; and is Epicurean in its tastes—always living, if possible, on the fat of the land. As the mosquito produces no honey, mankind in general are not as sweet upon it as they are upon that bigger hum-bug, the buzzy bee; yet it is so far akin ...

— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 18, July 30, 1870 • Various

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