What does "drove" mean?

1. (cattle path) an old road or track used for moving farm animals. 2. (to move livestock) to move a group of animals from one place to another.

drove

n. · v.

US //ˈdɹoʊv// UK //dɹˈəʊv// drove

1 cattle path (n.)
C2 Proficiency British English

an old road or track used for moving farm animals.

a traditional route or track specifically used for driving livestock to market.

Example

The old drove road is now a popular path for hikers.

Example

The ancient drove remains visible as a deep depression in the landscape, carved by centuries of cattle movement toward the southern markets.
- track
- pathway
2 to move livestock (v.)
C2 Proficiency Archaic

to move a group of animals from one place to another.

to herd or conduct livestock over a distance, typically to market or new pastures.

Example

In the past, men drove cattle across the mountains for weeks.

Example

The local farmers would traditionally drove their sheep to the higher plateaus during the summer months to exploit the seasonal grazing.
- herd
- guide

Etymology 1

From Middle English drove, drof, draf, from Old English drāf (“action of driving; a driving out, expulsion; drove, herd, band; company, band; road along which cattle are driven”), from Proto-Germanic draibō (“a drive, push, movement, drove”), from Proto-Indo-European dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Cognate with Scots drave, dreef (“drove, crowd”), Dutch dreef (“a walkway, wide road with trees, drove”), Middle High German treip (“a drove”), Swedish drev (“a drive, drove”), Icelandic dreif (“a scattering, distribution”). More at drive.

Etymology 2

From earlier drave, from Middle English drave, draf, from Old English drāf, first and third person singular indicative preterite of drīfan (“to drive”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Last updated June 19, 2026