Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DROVES
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pronounce
DROVES:
Say it "DROVES."
(It rhymes with "COVES.")
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
When you want to compare people to animals, you can take your pick of words. A herd of shoppers. A flock of passengers. A swarm of paparazzi. A pack of partygoers. A drove of fans. A g___le of gossipers.
Can you recall that last one? In its literal sense, it means "a group of geese."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
The oldest meaning of "to drive" is "to force (a group of animals) to move or run."
And a drove of animals (such as sheep, cattle, horses, or oxen) is a group of them all moving together, as if they're being driven.
So, if you refer to crowds of people as droves, you mean they're crowds that remind you of animals on the move because there are so many of them, moving so quickly in one direction, all packed together, all seeming to share one mind or purpose.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Noun, the countable kind: "They arrived in droves;" "They fled in droves."
Other forms:
Just the singular, "drove," as in "A drove of shoppers entered the store."
There's not a recognized adjective, but you could describe groups as "drovelike" and be understood.
how to use it:
Pick the clear, simple, semi-common word "droves" when you want to emphasize that people are doing something or moving somewhere as a huge, almost mindless group.
Most often, we talk about people doing something "in droves," often either coming or going: "They came in droves;" "They went by in droves;" "They left in droves;" "They volunteered in droves;" "They quit in droves."
examples:
"[Weird Al isn't] going to torch Robin Thicke or Iggy Azalea, and it is perhaps this good humor that continues to set him apart from the droves of other parodists online."
— Ian Crouch, The New Yorker, 16 July 2014
"[The play Tamburlaine] set a standard in stage effects as well as in poetry. Kings and sultans appear in droves, crowns are handed about like toys, treaties are torn, cities stormed, battles fought."
— Ashley H. Thorndike, Tragedy, 1908
has this page helped you understand "droves"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "droves" without saying "herds" or "flocks."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(At a certain time, or on a certain day), people streamed in droves to (do or buy something really popular)."
Example: "On Friday, audiences will be streaming in droves to see The Avengers, a superhero roundup filled with aliens, Norse gods and giant green rage monsters."
— Stephanie Abrahams, Time, 1 May 2012
before you review, play:
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
Our game this month is Crossword Clues: Movie Titles!
Use the movie title as a clue to come up with a word we've studied. For example, if the clue is "The Great Escape. 6 letters. _ E C _ M _," then the answer is "DECAMP," a word meaning "to get the heck out of there." To see the answer, scroll all the way down. Enjoy!
Try this last one today:
Lost in Translation.
11 letters.
_ _ S C _ _ T _ _ _ _.
review this word:
A. SKY-HIGH.
B. SINGLE FILE.
C. WITH MUCH ADO.
2.
Yann Martel described "an entire _____ of meercats" moving in droves, "_____."
A. trio .. scratching intricate patterns in the sand
B. family .. squinting their eyes in a way that seemed human
C. nation .. making more noise than a stampeding herd of elephants
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
When you want to compare people to animals, you can take your pick of words. A herd of shoppers. A flock of passengers. A swarm of paparazzi. A pack of partygoers. A drove of fans. A g___le of gossipers.
The oldest meaning of "to drive" is "to force (a group of animals) to move or run."
Part of speech:
Pick the clear, simple, semi-common word "droves" when you want to emphasize that people are doing something or moving somewhere as a huge, almost mindless group.
"[Weird Al isn't] going to torch Robin Thicke or Iggy Azalea, and it is perhaps this good humor that continues to set him apart from the droves of other parodists online."
Explain the meaning of "droves" without saying "herds" or "flocks."
Fill in the blanks: "(At a certain time, or on a certain day), people streamed in droves to (do or buy something really popular)."
Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
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