Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See drove.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, obsolete To trouble; afflict; make anxious.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English dreven (also droven), from Old English drēfan, *drōfian ("to trouble, vex, agitate, disturb the mind of"), from Proto-Germanic *drōbijanan (“to disturb, excite, make muddy”), from Proto-Indo-European *dherebh-, *dhrebh- (“to become thick or cloudy, curdle, ferment”). Cognate with Low German dröven, Dutch droeven ("to be sad, grieve"), German trüben ("to dull, dim, cloud, tarnish, trouble"), Swedish bedröva ("to grieve, sadden, distress").

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