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roving

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roving¹

  • /ˈɹoʊvɪŋ/ US

Where it comes from

From rove + -ing.

adjective more roving · most roving

  1. Moving about; having no fixed or permanent abode; travelling from place to place. The Northern Territory was dear to us both, and the fever for a roving life had not yet worn off, but some time elapsed before we could quite make up our minds whether to try our fortunes in Port Darwin again or not.
  2. Of the eyes or gaze, inspecting all over; not staying fixed on one subject. His roving eyes never focused on anything specific.

Similar: wandering

roving²

Where it comes from

From rove (“sliver of wool or cotton”), late 17th century, possibly from obsolete Middle English rove(n) (“to draw out, pull off”), itself a dialectal variant of rive (“to tear, split”).

noun rovings

  1. countable, uncountable A long and narrow bundle of fibre, usually used to spin woollen yarn or in felting. Mr. J. W. Strange, of Taunton, Mass., has invented an improved method of laying roving in cans.
  2. countable, uncountable The process of giving the first twist to yarn.

roving³

Where it comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

verb

  1. gerund, participle, present present participle and gerund of rove

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: wandering, vagabondage, nomadic, peregrine, mobile, unsettled, roaming, homeless, itinerant, touring, traveller, travelling, movement, outreach, mobility, tour

adjective

Similar: wandering

Translations

Every language

adj wandering

Deutschumherschweifend
Русскийбродячий brodjačij, кочующий kočujuščij, блуждающий bluždajuščij

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MLA

"roving." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/roving. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

roving. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/roving

Chicago

"roving." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/roving.

BibTeX
@misc{roving_2026,
  title = {roving},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/roving},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}