/ rəʊv; NAmE roʊv/ verb
1.
( formal ) to travel from one place to another, often with no particular purpose
SYN roam :
[ v + adv. / prep. ]
A quarter of a million refugees roved around the country.
[ vn ]
bands of thieves who roved the countryside
2.
[ v , usually + adv. / prep. ] if sb's eyes rove , the person keeps looking in different directions
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WORD ORIGIN
late 15th cent. (originally a term in archery in the sense shoot at a casual mark of undetermined range ): perhaps from dialect rave to stray , probably of Scandinavian origin.