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

And although traffic quickly flowed out of the neighborhoods, cars were backed up for more than a mile because the lights getting onto the 5 Freeway were controlled by Caltrans, not Irvine, and couldn’t be programmed to accept the droves of cars coming from the northeast. —Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2025

Road games often feel like home games because Dallas fans come in droves. —Saad Yousuf, The Athletic, 25 Jan. 2025

And since then, followers have come in droves, flooding her feed with comments praising her cakes, casseroles, pies, and buns. —Hannah Taylor, Southern Living, 24 Jan. 2025

Trending Today Two key stories on The Hill right now: Biden signs Social Security Fairness Act into law: What to know President Biden signed legislation into law over the weekend to expand Social Security benefits for droves of Americans. —Ellen Mitchell, The Hill, 6 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

Rhymes for drove

• clove
• cove
• rove
• shrove
• stove
• strove
• throve
• trove
• wove
• alcove
• mangrove

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"