drove
To herd cattle; particularly over a long distanceTo herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.
» Doctors were quitting smoking in droves.
Врачи массово бросали курить. — marafon
DJ_Saidez · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 sensesTo herd cattle; particularly over a long distance.
(transitive)To finish (stone) with a drove chisel.
Examples
6 sentencesDoctors were quitting smoking in droves.
ruВрачи массово бросали курить. — marafon
Birds began flying away in droves.
Tourists are out in droves in the city centre.
ruПо центру города толпами ходят туристы. — nina99nv
deIn der Innenstadt sind in Scharen Touristen unterwegs. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
The seagulls left in droves.
The shoppers clamored in droves.
Translations
2 languagesOrigin
From earlier drave, from Middle English drave, draf, from Old English drāf, first and thirFrom earlier drave, from Middle English drave, draf, from Old English drāf, first and third person singular indicative preterite of drīfan (“to drive”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
droves, droving, droved, drovedSynonyms
1 synonymsWord family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.