REEVE (rove)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: rove   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reeve mean? 

• REEVE (noun)
  The noun REEVE has 1 sense:

1. female ruff

  Familiarity information: REEVE used as a noun is very rare.

• REEVE (verb)
  The verb REEVE has 3 senses:

1. pass a rope through

2. pass through a hole or opening

3. fasten by passing through a hole or around something

  Familiarity information: REEVE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REEVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Female ruff

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("reeve" is a kind of...):

Philomachus pugnax; ruff (common Eurasian sandpiper; the male has an erectile neck ruff in breeding season)

• REEVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they reeve    ... he / she / it reeves   
Past simple: reeved   
Past participle: reeved   
-ing form: reeving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pass a rope through

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

reeve an opening

Hypernyms (to "reeve" is one way to...):

pass through (cause to move through)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Pass through a hole or opening

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

reeve a rope

Hypernyms (to "reeve" is one way to...):

pass through (cause to move through)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fasten by passing through a hole or around something

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "reeve" is one way to...):

pass through (cause to move through)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Where sharks rove seagrass beds, dugongs and other shark prey species steer clear.

(Sharks, the seagrass protectors, National Science Foundation)

Wolf Larsen rove a bowline in a piece of rope and slipped it under his shoulders.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

With anxiety I watched his eye rove over the gay stores: he fixed on a rich silk of the most brilliant amethyst dye, and a superb pink satin.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Besides, bethink you how low is our purse, with bailiff and reeve ever croaking of empty farms and wasting lands.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Perrault scaled it by a miracle, while François prayed for just that miracle; and with every thong and sled lashing and the last bit of harness rove into a long rope, the dogs were hoisted, one by one, to the cliff crest.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Swiftly they rove ropes to the corners, and then, rushing forward to the bows, they lowered them under the keel, and drew them tight in such a way that the sail should cover the outer face of the gap.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, mine continually rove away; when I should be listening to Miss Scatcherd, and collecting all she says with assiduity, often I lose the very sound of her voice; I fall into a sort of dream.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Then, with four attendants, came the novice, her drooping head wreathed with white blossoms, and, behind, the abbess and her council of older nuns, who were already counting in their minds whether their own bailiff could manage the farms of Twynham, or whether a reeve would be needed beneath him, to draw the utmost from these new possessions which this young novice was about to bring them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)