,verb, roved, rov⋅ing, noun | 1. | to wander about without definite destination; move hither and thither at random, esp. over a wide area. |
| 2. | to wander over or through; traverse: to rove the woods. |
| 3. | an act or instance of roving. |

,verb, roved, rov⋅ing, noun | 1. | to form (slivers of wool, cotton, etc.) into slightly twisted strands in a preparatory process of spinning. |
| 2. | to draw fibers or the like through an eye or other small opening. |
| 3. | to attenuate, compress, and twist slightly in carding. |
| 4. | British. roving 2 . |

rove 1 (rōv) v. roved, rov·ing, roves v. intr. To wander about at random, especially over a wide area; roam. v. tr. To roam or wander around, over, or through. See Synonyms at wander. n. An act of wandering about, over, around, or through. [Middle English roven, to shoot arrows at a mark.] |
roving
in archery, form of practice or competition dating from at least the 16th century, when it was practiced by the Honourable Artillery Company at Finsbury Fields near London. Archers set up many marks on the field and shot from one to the next in sequence, the object being, as in golf, to use the fewest shots in completing the course. Roving is similar to modern field archery, which, in fact, is sometimes called roving.
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