▪ I. roving, vbl. n.1
(ˈrəʊvɪŋ)
[f. rove v.1]
1. a. Archery. The action or practice of shooting at a random mark.
| 1480 Coventry Leet Bk. 457 Þe people of þis Citie yerely breken the hegges & dykes of þe seid Priour in diuerse places in þeir shotyng cald Rovyng. Ibid. 458 Although such rovyng about the Citie of London & all oþer grete Cities is suffred. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 184 Of an archers rouyng. 1626 Shirley Maid's Revenge i. ii, Montenegro. How now, are thy arrows feathered? Velasco. Well enough for roving. 1665 J. Fraser Polichron. (S.H.S.) 150 Few or none could compeat or cop with him in arching, either at butts, bowmarks or roaving. 1856 [see rover1 1]. 1887 Butt Ford's Archery 137 When there is sufficient space for golf links, roving might still be practised. |
| fig. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 76 Some low and underly rovings at..that height and depth of workmanship. |
b. attrib., as roving arrow, roving course, roving shaft.
| 1479 in Longman & Walrond Archery (1894) 119 Shoyting shaftes, rowying shaftes, childre shaftes, clense arrows un⁓nykt. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 184 What a shafte shootes he with a rouyng arrowe? 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxvi. 330 With Broad-arrow, or But, or Prick, or Rouing shaft. 1939 P. H. Gordon New Archery iii. 21 Royal edict set aside places for shooting in the towns and provided long roving courses over the distances between towns. |
2. a. The action of wandering or roaming.
| 1611 Cotgr., Escumement,..also, a raunging, rouing. 1637 Rutherford Lett. i. xc. (1664) 184 Galloping after our own night-dreams, (such are the roving of our miscarrying hearts). 1691 Hartcliffe Virtues 185 It doth answer to all the numberless Rovings of men's Fancies. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind xv. Wks. (1813) 103 If we indulge the frequent rise and roving of passions. 1789 Belsham Ess. I. x. 191 The study of Mathematics contributes to..check the rovings of fancy. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 296 Every year this animal's rovings are restricted. |
b. attrib. (passing into the ppl. a.); roving commission (see quot. 1846); also transf. and gen., (a body given) authority to pursue any inquiry or investigation in whatever quarters it may be considered necessary.
| 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1859) 2 It has been either my good or evil lot to have my roving passion gratified. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict., Roving-Commission, an authority granted by the Admiralty to the officer in command of a vessel to cruise wherever he may see fit. 1867 Congress. Globe 22 Mar. 273/2, I think it would be safer to leave this matter [of certain state claims] to the direct inspection of the War Department, than to send out a roving commission. We have had enough of these roving commissions. 1892 Daily News 19 Feb. 7/4 A new sort of roving power had been obtained by the War Office under the Ranges Act. 1894 Congress. Rec. 25 Apr. 4098/1 Is it a legitimate expenditure of the public money to send up consuls with roving commissions to hunt out commerce for a certain class of our people? 1930 W. S. Churchill (title) My early life: a roving commission. 1936 A. Christie ABC Murders xviii. 130, I had a kind of roving commission to purchase things for my brother. 1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom i. ii. 31 Who'd you put him on to? Or was it a roving commission? 1959 Ann. Reg. 1958 179 The Russians opposed the Western proposal that they should be mobile and on a permanent footing on the ground that such ‘roving commissions’ would engage in espionage. 1981 Listener 1 Jan. 12/1 For several years as West Africa correspondent he had what was in effect a roving commission. |
▪ II. † ˈroving, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[f. rove v.2]
The pursuit of, an act of, piracy or robbery.
| a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. (1811) 361 Natwithstandynge the great harmys they had done by rouing vpon the see. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. viii. 8 Most of them..lyuing onely of rouings, spoyles, and pilling at the Seas. 1611 Cotgr., Piraterie, piracie, roving. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 17 They are there much vext with the continuall rovings and robberies of the Arabians. |
▪ III. roving, vbl. n.3
(ˈrəʊvɪŋ)
[f. rove v.3]
1. The process of converting cotton, wool, etc., into roves.
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mech. 390 Three such skeins being passed through another drawing-frame, and stretched in their progress, become fitted for roving, the last step in the preparatory processes. 1853 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 758 The first operation is called ‘spreading’,..the second and third ‘drawings’,..and lastly the ‘roving’. 1861 Fairbairn in Rep. Brit. Assoc. p. lxi, Improvements in carding, roving, combing, spinning, and weaving. |
2. concr. a. A rove.
| 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. vii. (ed. 2) 96 He sees..the wool in rovings ready for spinning into threads. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 20 Drawing these out into slender spongy cords, called rovings, with the least possible twist. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 231 The spindles also begin to turn comparatively slowly, putting a little twist for the first time into the roving. 1960 New Scientist 10 Mar. 597/1 The quantity of glass fibre applied..is governed by the rate of operation of the rollers that feed the multi-ply coil of glass fibre rovings to the cutter block. 1964 H. Hodges Artifacts ix. 128 Sometimes the rolag may be drawn out to a thickness approaching that of the required thread, and even given a slight twist before winding on to the distaff. Prepared fibres in this state are usually called rovings. 1972 Physics Bull. Nov. 663/3 The glasses are produced in continuous strands, consisting of 204, or multiples of 204, filaments which are subsequently processed into rovings or into yarns for weaving purposes. 1977 Austral. Sailing Jan. 51/2 The construction..sounds strong, including a hand-laid layer of woven rovings and additional strengthening in stress areas. |
b. Roves collectively.
| 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. i. 31 The ‘tube-roving frame’..produces a much larger quantity of roving..; but the roving produced is inferior. 1946 A. J. Hall Stand. Handbk. Textiles iii. 105 The roving at this stage is about as thick as coarse string. 1972 Physics Bull. Nov. 663/3 S-Glass is most commonly employed in ‘roving’ or other unwoven forms. 1972 Sci. Amer. Dec. 47/2 Roving, on bobbins, is put into spinning frames, where it receives a final drawing out and the twisting necessary to make it into yarn. |
3. attrib. a. In names of machines (or parts of these), as roving-billy, roving-bobbin, roving-box, roving-frame, etc.
| 1795 Edin. Advert. 6 Jan. 15/1 Five..carding engines.., four roving billies. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 390 The loosely twisted thread from the roving bobbin. Ibid. 387 The spinning-frame..is more closely allied to the bobbin and flier roving-frame. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 111 The bobbin and fly frames, or roving-machines. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 120 The dandy roving boxes arranged in any number of spindles and boxes that are convenient. |
b. Misc., as roving-department, roving-room, roving-waste.
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 414 There was no appearance of dirt or of impure air in the preparing or roving-rooms. 1862 Athenæum 30 Aug. 264 In the so-called ‘roving’..department of flax-factories. 1894 Times 17 Aug. 9/3 Slubbing waste, roving waste, ring waste, yarn waste. |
▪ IV. ˈroving, vbl. n.4
[f. rove v.6]
The action of reducing the diameter of a grindstone. Also attrib., as roving-plate.
| 1850 Holtzapffel Turning III. 1109 The roving plate..jumps, and appears to fill the stone with minute furrows. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1023/2 Turning or roving is effected by reversing the motion of the stone and holding a hooked flat tool against its edge. |
▪ V. roving
corruption of roband.
| c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 47 Take one of the robands next to the midship one.., and take the midship roving for a stop. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v. Rovens. |
▪ VI. roving, ppl. a.
(ˈrəʊvɪŋ)
[f. rove v.1]
† 1. Random; conjectural. Obs.
| 1635 Court Min. E. India Co. (1907) 64 A roving estimate. 1649 Heylin Relat. & Observ. i. 57 By a roaving Accusation shot at randome at me. 1687 Rycaut Hist. Turks II. 258 The occasion of this unexpected..resolution caused many roving guesses and opinations of the reasons of it. |
2. a. That roves; wandering, roaming; nomadic.
| 1634 Milton Comus 485 Som roaving Robber calling to his fellows. 1667 ― P.L. iii. 432 Imaus.., Whose snowie ridge the roving Tartar bounds. 1749 Johnson Irene i. ii, A roving soldier seiz'd..A virgin shining with distinguish'd charms. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. l. V. 174 The same life is uniformly pursued by the roving tribes of the desert. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 29 Roving bands of independent trappers. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. xi. (1858) 395 Up this rich plain came the roving Danites from the south. |
| Comb. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiii, There was a roving-looking person in a rough great-coat. |
b. roving blade: see blade n. 11 b.
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xvi, I shall have the renown of some private quest, which may do me honour as a roving blade. 1886 ‘Sarah Tytler’ Buried Diamonds xxviii, Whatever you like to call my fine, roving blade of a brother-in-law. |
c. roving sailor, a local name of various plants, as the ivy-leaved toadflax, and the creeping saxifrage or loosestrife.
| 1882 Devon. Plant-names (E.D.S.). 1891 ‘Maxwell Gray’ Heart of Storm I. 173 A low stone wall, over which the dainty little ‘roving sailor’ spread its shining trails. |
d. Of an ambassador, journalist, etc., required to travel to various locations to deal with events as they occur.
| 1938 E. Waugh Scoop iii. i. 258 Will you accept five year contract five thousand year roving correspondent. 1946 R.A.F. Jrnl. May 147 This month our roving reporter..went back to Germany. 1958 Listener 26 June 1043/2 He was in the recent past Mr. Kishi's roving trade ambassador in south-east Asia. 1965 B. Sweet-Escott Baker St. Irreg. iii. 98 Staying in the Middle East as ‘a kind of roving ambassador’. 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 29/2 Boston's roving inspectors—who check on city services for the mayor. 1968 J. Drummond Gantry Episode ix. 72 It can't be done. Not by ordinary methods. That's why Purnell wants you as his roving reporter. 1970 A. Sinclair Guevara vi. 71 From 1960 onwards, Che had often served as a roving ambassador for Fidel Castro. 1972 D. Bloodworth Any Number can Play xii. 111 She would return..as a roving correspondent for the Worldover Syndication Service. |
3. transf. a. Of the eyes or sight.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. iv. 7 His roving eie did on the Lady glaunce. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 504 Nature,..undisguis'd by mimic Art,..spreads Unbounded beauty to the roving eye. 1769 Sir W. Jones Palace of Fortune Poems (1777) 24 Maia..Cast on an emerald ring her roving sight. 1841 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Smuggler's Leap, He has curling locks, and a roving eye. 1951 N. Mitford Blessing i. ii. 17, I'm afraid she's deeply romantic, and Valhubert has a roving eye. 1968 D. Gray Died in Red xiv. 73 The man with the roving eye comes along, and he tells you you're wonderful. 1970 V. Gielgud Candle-Holders xi. 98 Angela Baynes had caught Tarzan's permanently roving eye. |
b. Of the thoughts, affections, discourse, etc.
| c 1630 Milton Passion 22 These latter scenes confine my roving vers. 1660 Gouge Chr. Direct. ii. (1831) 21 Though roving thoughts, as birds, will hover about thee.., yet suffer them not to lodge and nestle in thee. 1693 Stepney in Dryden Juvenal viii. (1697) 211 Such Frollicks with his Roving Genius suit. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 525 Their rules of life..prov'd too weak To bind the roving appetite. 1812 Crabbe Tales xi. 401 Yet pride still lived, and struggled to sustain The drooping spirit and the roving brain. 1885 Law Times Rep. LII. 586/2 Such a general and roving interrogatory as this should not be allowed. |
4. Characterized by, inclined to, wandering or roaming. (Cf. roving vbl. n.1 2 b.)
| 1725 Berkeley Proposal Wks. 1871 III. 227 The Americans, so long as they continue their wild and roving life. 1821 Scott Pirate xxxi, I hope a gentleman of the roving trade has as good a right to have an alias as a stroller. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 321 This passion for ‘a roving life’ (to use the common expression by which many of the street-people themselves designate it). 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting i. 2 Being of a roving turn of mind, I was placed in the large merchant's office of an ex-M.P., with a view of being fitted for going abroad. |