“rovers” is a form of
rover
UK /ˈɹəʊvə/ · US /ˈɹoʊvɚ/ noun, proper noun
Forms rovers
- noun One who roves: a person or animal that travels around, especially over a wide area, without a fixed destination; a nomad, a roamer, a wanderer.
- noun (dated) A restless, unsteady person who does not settle down; specifically (historical), a flirtatious, unfaithful man; a rake. “She is a rover and dislikes any sort of ties, physical or emotional.”
- noun (historical) Also rover ticket: a person who has a ticket for an event, performance, etc., but no assigned seat, and so has to find a place to sit or stand.
- noun (aeronautics) A small manned or unmanned land vehicle for exploring extraterrestrial bodies.
- noun (American football) A defensive back position whose coverage responsibilities are a combination of those of a cornerback, linebacker, and safety; also, a player playing this position.
- noun (historical) Chiefly in the plural in the form to shoot at rovers: a target randomly selected by an archer, usually for practice; also, a fixed target for practising long-distance shooting.
- noun (obsolete) A type of heavy arrow used for long-distance shooting.
- noun (Australian rules football) A position that is one of three of a team's followers making up a ruck, who follow the ball around the ground; also, a player playing this position, who is generally fast and skilful at receiving the ball, and formerly of shorter stature.
- noun A pirate.
- noun A pirate ship.
- noun (obsolete) A plunderer, a raider, a robber.
- noun One who forms cotton, wool, or other fibres into rovings (“long, narrow bundles of fibres”), specifically using a roving frame in a mill.
- noun A machine used to make rovings, especially a roving frame.
- noun (sports) Someone connected with any number of teams called the Rovers, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- noun (soccer) someone connected with Blackburn Rovers FC, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- noun (scouting) A member of the senior section of the Boy Scout movement catering for men of age 18 upwards, now disbanded.
- proper noun A stereotypical given name for a dog.
- proper noun A former make of a British motorcar.
Synonyms
benedick cad drabber fuck boy fuck-boy fuckboy gallant goat he-bitch himbo homme fatal horndog loverboy loverman man ho man whore man-whore manslut manwhore muttonmonger wanderer roamer bird of passage scouter
Etymology
From rove (“to roam, wander; (archery) to shoot an arrow randomly”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs). Rove is derived from Late Middle English *roven, rove (“to wander”); further etymology uncertain, possibly an English Midlands variant of Northern England raven, rave (“to rove, stray, wander”), possibly from Old Norse ráfa (“to roam, wander”) (although rove and rave are only attested much later), possibly from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to cause to weave; to entangle, wrap”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”).
From Late Middle English rover, rovere (“pirate”), borrowed from Middle Dutch rôver, rôvere (from rôven (“to pillage, plunder, rob”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs)), or Middle Low German rōver (“plunderer, robber; pirate, reaver”) (from rōven (“to pillage, plunder, rob”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs)), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *raubōną (“to plunder, rob, steal”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- (“to break, tear (up)”). Doublet of reaver.
* Danish røver (“brigand, highwayman, robber, thief”)
* Norwegian røver (“brigand, highwayman, robber, thief”)
From rove (“to card (wool or other fibres)”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs). Rove is probably a variant of row (“(Scotland, obsolete, rare) to make (cotton, wool, etc.) into rovings”), probably from row (“(Ireland, Scotland, archaic) rove or roving of cotton, wool, etc.”), probably a variant of roll (“thing which is rolled up”), ultimately from Latin rota (“wheel”) and Proto-Indo-European *Hreth₂- (“to roll; to run”).
From rover.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate.
- noun One who wanders about by sea or land; a wanderer; a rambler.
Etymology [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rover”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details