Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To shoot at rovers; shoot arrows at other marks than the butt; shoot for height or distance.
- noun A robber, especially a sea-robber; a freebooter; a pirate; a forager.
- noun One who roves; a wanderer; one who rambles about, or goes at random from point to point.
- noun Hence A fickle or inconstant person.
- noun In archery: A person shooting at a mark with a longbow and arrow, or shooting merely for distance, the position of the archer being shifted with every shot, and not confined to a staked-out ground. The flight-arrow was used by the rover.
- noun An arrow used by a rover. See
flight-arrow . - noun An irregular or uncertain point to be aimed at; also, a mark at an uncertain or indefinite distance.
- noun In architecture, any member, as a molding, that follows the line of a curve.
- noun In croquet: A ball that has gone through all the hoops, and 330 only needs to strike the winning-stake to be out of the game.
- noun A player whose ball is in the above condition.
- noun To shoot at random, or without any particular aim.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate.
- noun One who wanders about by sea or land; a wanderer; a rambler.
- noun Hence, a fickle, inconstant person.
- noun (Croquet) A ball which has passed through all the hoops and would go out if it hit the stake but is continued in play; also, the player of such a ball.
- noun Casual marks at uncertain distances.
- noun obsolete A sort of arrow.
- noun at casual marks; hence, at random. See def. 5 (a) above.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
pirate or pirate ship. - noun archery, usually plural A randomly selected target.
- noun One who
roves . - noun A vehicle for exploring extraterrestrial bodies.
- noun Position in Australian Rules football, one of three of a team's followers, who follow the ball around the ground. Formerly a position for short players, rovers in professional leagues are frequently over 183 cm (6').
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun someone who leads a wandering unsettled life
- noun an adult member of the Boy Scouts movement
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Entrants should submit essays explaining why their suggested name for the rover is the right fit.
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Getting to name a rover is nice, and the person who submitted the name deserves congratulations, but let's face it, getting one kid to name a Mars rover is not a very efficient way to get that kid interested in science, and it sure isn't an efficient way to get lots of kids interested in science.
Mars Rover Curiosity Name Doesn't Inpsire Our Readers - NASA Watch 2009
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Entrants should submit essays explaining why their suggested name for the rover is the right fit.
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It's not my favorite name, but I don't really care what the rover is called (obviously as long as it isn't offensive).
Spirit and Opportunity, Meet Your New Big Cousin Curiosity - NASA Watch 2009
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Stern, now a private consultant, argues that the new rover is too ambitious, with too many new technologies in play, making a cost overrun all but inevitable.
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They may have never heard of Constellation or the ESAS or VSE or may even think that the rover is for Mars (that's where all rovers go, isn't it?).
NASA Rover Closes Out Inaugural Parade (Screen Grabs) - NASA Watch 2009
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If a rover is put on a planetary surface, once the pathfinder succeeds I'd probably go for a series of 5-10 copies in different locations (perhaps with minor upgrades and instrument switches).
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Hey Doc, if you thing the shape of that rover is better than a cylinder, then maybe you need to go back to school.
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The rover is not going to last forever, it has done one heck of a job.
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The aging, nearly obsolete Mars rover is having more senior moments these days.
MaryW commented on the word rover
Mark Essig, Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig (New York: Basic Books, 2015), ch. 11.May 9, 2016