drove

drove — verb

1. the past simple form of 'drive' — used to say that someone operated a vehicle an

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveA2
Definition

the past simple form of 'drive' — used to say that someone operated a vehicle and travelled in it at a time before now

Example

Ravindra drove his neighbor to the airport at four in the morning.

drove + person + to + place

Takeshi drove the delivery truck along the coastal highway all night.

drove + vehicle + along + route

Common collocations
  • drove + to + place
  • drove + through + place
  • drove + across + place
  • drove + carefully / fast / slowly

Grammar Patterns

drove + vehicle

drove + to + place

drove + person + to + place

drove + adverb of manner

Usage Note

Only the simple past form — never use with 'have' to form a perfect tense. For present perfect or past perfect, use 'driven' instead. Commonly used with destinations (drove to the store) and direct objects naming a specific vehicle (drove the truck).

Common Mistakes

Yesterday I have drove to work.
Yesterday I drove to work.
'drove' is the simple past form and cannot follow 'have'; use 'driven' for perfect tenses.

2. to walk behind or beside farm animals and guide them to a different location on

2.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to walk behind or beside farm animals and guide them to a different location on foot, without using a vehicle

Example

Eshe drove the sheep down from the hills before the winter storms arrived.

drove + animals + direction + time context

Reuben drove the cattle along the dusty road toward the market square.

drove + animals + along + path + toward + destination

Common collocations
  • drove + cattle / sheep / pigs / goats / horses
  • drove + along / down / through / into / toward
Synonyms
  • herd

    more general; can also mean to gather or round up animals, not necessarily while walking behind them

  • steer

    focuses on directing the animals' direction, often from the side; more technical

Grammar Patterns

drove + animals + direction/prepositional phrase

Usage Note

Distinguish from verb/1 (PAST OF DRIVE): this sense does NOT involve any vehicle. The subject walks behind or beside the animals. Common direct objects are 'cattle', 'sheep', 'pigs', 'goats', and 'horses'.

Common Mistakes

The farmer drove the car to the market.' (when meaning animals)
The farmer drove the cattle to the market.
For sense 2, you must name the animals being moved; a vehicle name signals sense 1.

drove — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/2

Drove, crowd, throng, swarm and herd all describe large groups, but each carries a different emphasis. 'Drove' highlights movement with direction or shared purpose — it originally referred to animals being herded, and retains that sense of guided motion when used for people (e.g., a drove of tourists pouring off a bus). 'Crowd' is the broadest, most neutral term for a gathering of people; it can be stationary or moving. 'Throng' suggests a dense, tightly packed crowd that is difficult to push through. 'Swarm' implies chaotic, busy movement like insects, and is informal when used for people. 'Herd' nearly always refers to animals; using it for people ('a herd of shoppers') is informal and slightly dismissive. For example: A drove of fans walked toward the stadium vs A crowd gathered outside the gates vs A throng blocked the sidewalk vs A swarm of reporters surrounded the actor vs A herd of children ran past the teacher.

crowd ↗throngswarm ↗herd

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • in droves
  • drove of cattle
  • drove of sheep
  • drove of tourists

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'drove' comes from two closely related Old English roots. The verb form (past tense of 'drive') is from 'drīfan' meaning 'to push forward, urge, chase'. The noun sense ('a herd of animals') comes from Old English 'draf' meaning 'a drove or herd', which was also derived from 'drīfan'. Both paths trace further back to a Proto-Germanic root 'drībaną' and ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European root '*dhreibh-' meaning 'to drive, push'. The figurative use for a crowd of people (noun sense 2) developed later in the 16th century.