grove
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ɡɹəʊv//
- United States//ɡɹoʊv//
A small forest.
noun
- 1
A small forest.
Religious sodomy was practised by male prostitutes in the Hebrew temple groves, which was one of the abominations of Israel that Josiah cleared away.
- 2
A small forest with minimal undergrowth.
Near-synonym: woodland
- 3
An orchard of fruit trees.
- 4
A place of worship.
- 5
A lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids.
Etymology
From Middle English grove, grave, from Old English grāf, grāfa (“grove; copse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graib, *graibō (“branch, group of branches, thicket”), from Proto-Germanic *graibaz, *graibô (“branch, fork”). Related to Old English grǣf, grǣfe (“brushwood; thicket; copse”), Old English grǣfa (“thicket”), dialectal Norwegian greive (“ram with splayed horns”), dialectal Norwegian greivlar (“ramifications of an antler”), dialectal Norwegian grivla (“to branch, branch out”), Old Norse grein (“twig, branch, limb”). More at greave.
verb
- 1
To cultivate in groves; to grow naturally so as to form groves.
It is called "Orchard Lake," from the fact, that near the centre is an island embracing an area of about fifty acres of land, well groved with different kinds of shrubbery; and near the centre of this island stand a number of aged apple-trees, planted, perhaps, a century since by the hand of some Indian.
The trees and shrubs are not arranged after any particular system, but are scattered or groved together in various parts of the garden.
1984, Queensland Botany Bulletin, Issue 3, Department of Primary Industries, page 82, Virtually recognizable groving occurs in some A. aneura associations in the west. Further east some diffuse groving may occur, but is difficult to recognize without the benefit of aerial photographs.
- 2
To cultivate with periodic harvesting that also serves to create order (gaps and lines of trees) to facilitate further harvesting.
- 3
To plough or gouge with lines.
The floor of first story and piazza to be laid with Georgia pine, in narrow courses planed, groved and tongued, and laid in the best manner.
Forms
- plural
- groves
- past tense
- groved
- past participle
- groved
- present participle
- groving
- third person singular
- groves