drove

1 of 2

noun

ˈdrōv 

1

: a group of animals driven or moving in a body

2

: a large number : crowd

—usually used in plural especially with in

came in droves

drove

2 of 2

past tense of drive

Synonyms

Noun

• army
• bike [chiefly Scottish]
• cram
• crowd
• crush
• flock
• herd
• horde
• host
• legion
• mass
• mob
• multitude
• press
• rout
• scrum
• swarm
• throng

Examples of drove in a Sentence

Noun

people flocked to the annual festival in droves

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Fish Thief, which has won awards on the environmental film festival circuit in North America and Europe, is the first to tell the story of the lamprey in its entirety, from the initial mystery of droves of dead fish, to the resulting ecological crisis, to the efforts to find a solution. —Jayme Moye, Outside Online, 17 Jan. 2025

Financial Challenges In 2023, reports of financial difficulties started circulating, which was shocking since the popular eatery and its spin-offs raked in droves of customers daily. —Jasmine Browley, Essence, 14 Jan. 2025

But even outside of Novus, private development is coming in droves, with a hyper-focus on the stretch of Rural Road between University Drive and Apache Boulevard. —Corina Vanek, The Arizona Republic, 5 Dec. 2024

What is clearcut is that scammers will be out in their droves looking to trick users into clicking and installing shortcuts and workarounds as the deadline approaches and then passes. —Zak Doffman, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Old English drāf, from drīfan to drive — more at drive

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

drove

1 of 2 noun

ˈdrōv 

1

: a group of animals driven or moving in a body

2

: a crowd of people moving or acting together

drove

2 of 2

past of drive

Etymology

Noun

Old English drāf "group of animals moving together," from drīfan "to drive"