drove 
drove 2 (drov), n. [< ME. drove, earlier drof, < 
AS. drdf, a, drove, < drifan (pret. drdf), drive : 
see drive] 1. A number of oxen, sheep, or 
swine driven in a body ; cattle driven in a herd : 
by extension, a collection or crowd of other 
animals, or of human beings, in motion. 
Of moistfull matter, 
God made the people that frequent the Water; 
And of an Earthly stuff the stubborn droues 
That haunt the Hils and Dales, and Downs and Groues. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4. 
The sounds and seas, with all their finny drove, 
Now to the moon in wavering morrice move. 
Milton, Conitls, 1. 115. 
Where droves, as at a city gate, may pass. 
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires. 
2. A road or drive for sheep or cattle in droves. 
[Great Britain.] 3. A narrow channel or 
drain, used in the irrigation of land. [Great 
Britain.] 
drove 3 (drov), v. t. ; pret. and pp. droved, ppr. 
droving. [So., usually in pp. droved; prob. a 
secondary form (after drove*, drove 2 ) ol drive; 
cf. D. drijven, drive, also engrave, emboss.] In 
masonry, to tool roughly. Droved and broached, 
a phrase applied to work that has been first rough-hewn, 
and then tooled clean. Droved and striped, a phrase 
applied to work that is first rough-tooled, and then formed 
into shallow grooves or stripes with a half- or three-quar- 
ter-inch chisel, having the droved interstices prominent. 
Droved ashler. See ashler. 
drove 3 (drov), n. [See dr0M>, .] A chisel, from 
two to four inches broad, used in making droved 
work. 
drove 4 t, drevet, '' * [ME. droven, dreven, < 
AS. drefan (for *drofian), trouble, agitate, dis- 
turb (the mind), = OS. drobhian = MLG. dro- 
ven, LG. droven = MD. droeven = OHG. truoban, 
truoben, MHG. truoben, triieben, G. triiben, trou- 
ble, = Sw. be-drofva = Dan. he-drove, grieve, 
trouble, = Goth, drobjan, cause trouble, excite 
an uproar; connected with the adj., AS. drdf, 
' - - ' - '-'3; afflict; 
1780 
kanen, drunkanen, become drunk, be drunk), 
< AS. drnncen, pp. of drincan, drink : see drink. 
Cf. drench*, drown, and drouk, of same ult. ori- 
gin.] I. intrans. To be suffocated by immer- 
sion in water or other liquid. 
O Lord ! methought what pain it was to drown ! 
Shak., Rich. III., i. 4. 
II. trans. 1. To suffocate by immersion in 
water or other liquid ; hence, to destroy, extin- 
guish, or ruin by or as if by submersion. 
The sea cannot drown me : I swam, ere I could recover 
the shore, five-and-thirty leagues, off and on. 
Shak., Tempest, iii. 2. 
I feel 1 weep apace ; but Where's the flood, 
The torrent of my tears to drown my fault in ? 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, iv. 2. 
I try'd in Wine to drown the mighty Care ; 
But wine, alas, was Oyl to th' Fire. 
Cowley, The Mistress, The Incurable. 
The barley is then steeped too much, or, as the maltster 
expresses it, is drowned. Thausing, Beer (trans.), p. 281. 
2. To overflow ; inundate : as, to drown land. 
To dew the sovereign flower, and drov.ni the weeds. 
Shak., Macbeth, v. 2. 
If it [the storm] had continued long without ye shifting 
of y 6 wind, it is like it would have drouned some parte of 
y cuntrie. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 337. 
The trembling peasant sees his country round 
Covered with tempests, and in oceans drowned. 
Addison, The Campaign. 
A weir is said to be drowned when the water in the 
channel below it is higher than its crest. 
Rankine, Steam Engine, 137. 
3. Figuratively, to plunge deeply ; submerge ; 
overwhelm: as, to drown remorse in sensual 
pleasure. 
Both man and child, both maid and wife, 
Were drown'd in pride of Spain. 
Queen Eleanor's Fall (Child's Ballads, VII. 293). 
My private voice is drowned amid the senate. 
Addison, Cato. 
To drown out, to force to come out, leave, etc., by influx 
of water ; drive out 
drudge 
drowsy (drou'zi), n. [Formerly also drousie ; 
< drowse + -y*] 1. Inclined to sleep; sleepy; 
heavy with sleepiness. 
Drowsy am I, and yet can rarely sleep. Sir P. Sidney. 
They went till they came into a certain country, whose 
air naturally tended to make one drowsy. . . . Here Hope- 
ful began to be very dull and heavy of sleep ; wherefore 
he said unto Christian, I do now begin to grow so drowsy 
that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes ; let us lie down 
here and take one nap. 
Hunt/an, Pilgrim's Progress, i., Enchanted Ground. 
2. Resulting from or affected by drowsiness ; 
characteristic of or marked by a state of drows- 
ing. 
The rest around the hostel fire 
Their drowsy limbs recline. 
Scott, Marmion, iii. 26. 
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains 
My sense. Keats, Ode to a Nightingale. 
3. Disposing to sleep ; lulling; soporific: as, a 
drowsy couch. 
The hoary.willows waving with the wind, 
In drowsy murmurs lull'd the gentle maid. 
Addison. 
The bowl with drowsy juices filled 
From cold Egyptian drugs distilled. 
Addison, Rosamond, iii. 3. 
I hate to learn the ebb of time 
From yon dull steeple's drowsy chime. 
Scott, L. of the L., vi. 24. 
4. Dull; sluggish; stupid. 
I would give you a drowsy relation, for it is that time of 
night, though I called it evening. Donne, Letters, Ixii. 
Those inadvertencies, a body would think, even our 
been capable of. Bp. Atterbunj. 
drowsyhead (drou'zi-hed), n. [In Spenser 
drowsihed; < drowsy + -head] Drowsiness; 
sleepiness; tendency to sleep. [Archaic.] 
A pleasing land of drowsyhead it was, 
Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye. 
Thomson, Castle of Indolence, L 6. 
These hours of drowsihead were the season of the old 
drovent. An obsolete and improper form of drowner (drou'ner), n. One who or that which 
driven, past participle of drive. drowns. 
drover (dro'ver), n. [< drove?, n., + -er*.] 1. The nourse , dy3e and cardes is we risome idlenesse, 
One who drives cattle or sheep to market ; one enemy of virtue, drowner of youthe. Ascham, Toxophilus. 
who buys cattle in one place to sell in another. drowge (drouz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. drowsed, ppr. 
droylet, and n. See droil. Spenser. 
droze, arose (droz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. drozed, 
ppr. drozing. [E. dial., also freq. drosle; prob. 
connected with dross and drowse, ult. \ AS. 
To 
2f. A boat driven by the wind: probably only 
in the passage cited. 
He woke 
And saw his droixr drive along the streame. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. viii. 22. 
droving 1 (dro'ving), n. [< drove 2 + -ing*] 
The occupation of a drover. [Rare.] 
droving 2 (dro'ving), n. [Verbal n. of droveS, v] 
A method of hewing the faces of hard stones, 
similar to random-tooling or boasting. See 
droveS, v. Droving and striping, in stone-cutting, 
the making with the chisel of shallow parallel channels 
drutsian, sink, become slow or sluggish (rare) 
(= MD. droosen, slumber, doze; cf. LG. driln- 
sen, driinseln, slumber, drunsen, low, as a cow, 
drawl in speech), < dredsan (= Goth, driusan, 
etc.), fall: see drizzle, dross, droze] To be 
(R 
He drowsed upon his couch. South, Sermons, IV. 78. 
Let not your prudence, dearest, drowse, or prove 
The Danaid of a leaky vase. Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
In the pool drowsed the cattle up to their knees. 
Lowell, Sir Launfal, i. 
be *droovy = E. dial, druvy, drnivy, thick, mud- 
dy, overcast (cf. druve. a muddy river), Sc. 
drowie, moist, muddy, < ME. drovy, drovi, tur- 
bid, muddy, < AS. drof, drofi (rare), turbid, 
muddy, also troubled (in mind), = OS. drobhi, 
druobhi = D. droef, droevig = MLG. drove, LG. 
druv, drove = OHG. truobi, G. triibe, troubled, 
gloomy, sad: see drove*] Turbid. 
He is like to an hors that seketh rather to drynke drovy 
water and trouble than for to drinke water of the welle 
that is cleer. Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
drow 1 , v. t. [E. dial., var. of dry : see dry] To 
dry. Grose. [Prov. Eng. (Exmoor).] 
drow 2 (drou), n. [Sc., appar. developed from 
the adj. drowie, moist, misty, > E. drovy, q. v.] 
A cold mist; a drizzling shower. 
drow 3 (drou), n. [Sc., also trow, var. of troll 2 . 
Cf . droll] One of a diminutive elfish race sup- 
posed by superstitious people in the Shetland 
islands to reside in hills and caverns, and to be 
curious artificers in iron and precious metals. 
I hung about thy neck that gifted chain, which all in 
our isles know was wrought by no earthly artist, but by 
the Drows in the secret recesses of their caverns. 
Scott, Pirate, x. 
drowghtt, n. An obsolete form of drought*. 
drown (droun), v. [Early mod. E. also drown; 
< ME. droumen, dronnen, contr. of earlier drunc- 
nen, druncnien, < ONorth. druncnia (= lcel. 
drulcna = Sw. dnmkna = Dan. drukne, intr., 
drown, sink, = AS. druncnian = OHG. trun- 
] A state of 
somnolency; a half -sleep. 
But smiled on in a drowse of ecstasy. Browning. 
Many a voice along the street, 
And heel against the pavement echoing, burst 
Their drowse. Tennyson, Geraint. 
He gave one look, then settled into his drowse again. 
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 128. 
drowsed (drouzd), p. a. 1. Sleepy; overcome 
with sleepiness ; drowsy. 
I became so drowsed that it required an agony of exer- 
tion to keep from tumbling off my horse. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 272. 
2. Heavy from somnolency ; dull ; stupid. 
There gentle sleep 
First found me, and with soft oppression seized 
My drowsed sense. Milton, P. L., viii. 289. 
drowsihead, n. See drowsyhead. 
drowsily (drou'zi-li), adv. 1 . In a drowsy man- 
ner; sleepily; heavily: as, he drowsily raised 
his head. 2. Sluggishly; languidly; slothful- 
ly; lazily. 
Drowsily the banners wave 
O'er her that was so chaste and fair. Praed. 
drowsiness (drou'zi-nes), n. 1. Sleepiness; 
disposition to sleep ; lassitude. 
Tis like the murmuring of a stream, which, not varying 
in the fall, causes at first attention, at last drowsiness. 
Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy. 
He bore up against drowsiness and fever till his master 
was pronounced convalescent. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. 
2f. Sluggishness; sloth; laziness. 
Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Prov. xxiii. 21. 
melt and drip down, as a candle. Grose; SalJi- 
id pp. drubbed, ppr. 
ial. form (= E. dial. 
drob), a var. or secondary form 
*drcn (E. dial, dryp and drib: see 
at, < ME. drenen (pret. drop, drop, 
i, strike, kill, < AS. drepan (pret. "drcep, 
pp. dropen, drepen), strike, = LG. drapen, 
drfy'en = OHG. treffan, MHG. G. treffen, hit, 
touch, concern, = lcel. drepa = Sw. drapa = 
Dan. drabe, kill, slay (cf. Sw. drabba, hit).] 
To beat with a stick; cudgel; belabor ; thrash ; 
beat in general. 
Captain Swan came to know the Business, and marr'd 
all ; undeceiving the General, and drubbing the Noble- 
man. Dampier, Voyages, I. 362. 
Must I be drttbb'd with broom-staves ? 
Steele, Lying Lover, iv. 1. 
Admiral Hawke has come up with them [the French] 
and drubbed them heartily. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, vi., ed. note. 
If any of the under officers behave so as to provoke the 
people to drub them, promote those to better offices. 
Franklin, Autobiog., p. 411. 
drub (drub), n. [< drub, ^.] A blow with a 
stick or cudgel ; a thump ; a knock. 
By setting an unfortunate mark on their followers they 
have exposed them to innumerable drubs and contusions. 
Addison. 
/IvnMior 
araDDer 
), n. One who drubs or beats. 
These two were sent (or I'm no Drubber). 
Prior, The Mice. 
drubbing (drub'ing), n. [Verbal n. of drub, v] 
A cudgeling ; a sound beating. 
drudge 1 (druj), r. '.; pret. and pp. drudged, ppr. 
drudging. [< ME. druggen, work hard ; said to 
be of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. drugaire, a slave 
or drudge, dntgaireachd, slavery, drudgery; 
but these forms are prob. of E. origin. Cf. 
ilritifi, a drudge, Sc. dntg, pull forcibly, drug, 
& rough pull, E. dial, drug, a timber-carriage, 
drudge 2 , a large rake, as a verb, harrow, = E. 
dredge*. The word is thus prob. ult. < AS. 
dragan, E. draw : see draw, drag, dredge*] To 
work hard, especially at servile, mechanical, 
or uninteresting work; labor in tedious, drag- 
