Etymology

roving

R1O1V4I1N1G2

Today it means: Moving about; having no fixed or permanent abode; travelling from place to place. Full definition →

Middle English rove(n)
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roving · adjective1

From rove + -ing.

roving · noun2

  1. Middle English · derived fromrove(n)“to draw out, pull off”
  2. English todayroving

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”).

roving · verb3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.