drove C2+ Topic:People & Society US /droʊv/ UK /drəʊv/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a herd or flock driven together; a large moving crowd A drove of cattle blocked the narrow country lane. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a herd or flock driven... herdflockhordethrongswarmmultitudecrowd Word family Derived forms drover Related forms drivedrift Etymology AI details From Old English 'drāf' ('herd, act of driving'), from 'drīfan' ('to drive'). The verb 'drove' is the past tense of 'drive'. drāf Old English drīfan Old English View etymology graph -> Topics People & Society External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # drove **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /droʊv/ **IPA (UK):** /drəʊv/ ## Meanings 1. a herd or flock driven together; a large moving crowd ## Examples - A drove of cattle blocked the narrow country lane. ## Synonyms - herd - flock - horde - throng - swarm - multitude - crowd ## Derived Forms - drover ## Related Forms - drive - drift ## Roots and Affixes - Root: drāf - Root: drīfan ## Etymology From Old English 'drāf' ('herd, act of driving'), from 'drīfan' ('to drive'). The verb 'drove' is the past tense of 'drive'. ## AI Etymology Drove is from Old English 'drāf' ('herd, act of driving'), from 'drīfan' ('to drive'). The verb 'drove' is the past tense of 'drive'. The ancestry passes through Old English drāf and Old English drīfan. In present use as noun and verb, it means "a herd or flock driven together; a large moving crowd", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include drive and drift; derived forms include drover. The surrounding word family keeps the same base visible in drover, drive, and drift, showing how the headword belongs to a larger cluster rather than standing alone. ## Topics - People & Society markdown