reeve
1 Americannoun
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an administrative officer of a town or district.
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British. an overseer or superintendent of workers, tenants, or an estate.
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British. (formerly) a person of high rank representing the crown.
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Canadian. the presiding officer of a village or town council.
verb (used with object)
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reeves,
present (3rd person singular)
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reeved,
past participle, past
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rove,
past
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roven,
past participle
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reeving
present participle
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to pass (a rope or the like) through a hole, ring, or the like.
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to fasten by placing through or around something.
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to pass a rope through (the swallow of a block).
noun
noun
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English history the local representative of the king in a shire (under the ealdorman) until the early 11th century Compare sheriff
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(in medieval England) a manorial steward who supervised the daily affairs of the manor: often a villein elected by his fellows
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canadian government (in certain provinces) a president of a local council, esp in a rural area
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(formerly) a minor local official in any of several parts of England and the US
verb
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to pass (a rope or cable) through an eye or other narrow opening
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to fasten by passing through or around something
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reevesimple
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reevessimple
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have reevedperfect
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have rovenperfect
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has reevedperfect
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has rovenperfect
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am reevingprogressive
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are reevingprogressive
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is reevingprogressive
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have been reevingperfect progressive
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has been reevingperfect progressive
Past
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reevedsimple
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rovesimple
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had reevedperfect
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had rovenperfect
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was reevingprogressive
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were reevingprogressive
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had been reevingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reeve1
First recorded before 900; Middle English (i)reve, refe, reive “royal administrative or judicial officer,” Old English gerēfa “high royal offiicial, fiscal officer, prefect”; further origin uncertain; cf. sheriff
Origin of reeve2
First recorded in 1600–10; of uncertain origin; perhaps from Dutch reven “to reef”; see reef 2
Origin of reeve3
First recorded in 1625–35; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Dave Carlson, the reeve of Emerson-Franklin, said instances of people crossing the border outside the checkpoint have dropped significantly in recent years.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 20, 2022
Other states followed suit, and as Judge Vanderbilt says, the "judges campaigned for judicial office in the hustings with the other candidates of the political parties from sheriff to hog reeve."
From Time Magazine Archive
I was just about to emerge from the woods and run toward our hut when I caught sight of the bailiff, Roger Kinsworthy, and the reeve, Odo Langland.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
I could fed him standing there watching me as I tried to reeve the lengths, but I knew they weren’t fitting together.
From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor
Each hundred had its own court, and every township its assembly under the reeve.
From Cornwall by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould
Generations ago, towns appointed hog reeves — people who caught livestock that ran away — each year at a town meeting.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2010
In Cornish, for fun, newly married couples are appointed honorary hog reeves each year.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2010
Payments and Services.—We have already had occasion to refer to the dues which were rendered by different classes of the population, and which the reeves in royal villages had to collect and superintend.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various
Below the dais, and between it and the fire, was another table, at which were already gathered twelve guests, being the chief tenants of Sir Andrew and the reeves of his outlying lands.
From The Brethren by Henry Rider Haggard
The bishops and reeves who belonged to the “court of London” appear as the directors of the system, and in them we may see the aldermen of the wards of a later time.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various
Thirty-one inches above the headpiece is a pulley reeved with a rope with handles on one end, ankle straps on the other.
From Time Magazine Archive
The tame ones then returned to land, and he swam after the boat to the ship, where tackle was reeved to the sail-cloth, and he was hoisted on board.
From Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon by Sir James Emerson Tennent
With this knowledge, therefore, I spliced the eye, and made the knot as firm as possible, and then the loop was reeved through, and the thing was ready.
From The Hunters' Feast Conversations Around the Camp Fire by Mayne Reid
You observe," he went on, "there is an iron ring in the upper masonry, and, reeved through that, a very efficacious rope.
From International Short Stories English by Various
On the drawers was the bonnet, which was of reeved crape made upon wire, and not one at all suited for a careless girl; but it was made by a milliner at Plymouth.
From The Fairchild Family by Florence M. Rudland
Its species name honors Dr. Harald Schillhammer of the Natural History Museum Vienna for his extensive and outstanding contributions to rove beetle research.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
In a paper published in the journal “Cell,” they break down the remarkable ability of one species of rove beetle to live among the typically combative ants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
One version of Bolt-ee is mounted on wheels and semi-autonomous, so that it can rove around to reach a vehicle that needs a quick hit of power.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2024
In response, Metro says it transferred pairs of security guards from elsewhere to rove the H Line, which connects downtown to Burien, “for the foreseeable future,” spokesperson Al Sanders said.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
Never the flaming eye of Helios lights on those men at morning, when he climbs the sky of stars, nor in descending earthward out of heaven; ruinous night being rove over those wretches.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Next, reeving one end of the rope into a running noose, he flung it over the pinnacle, and with a tug had it taut.
From I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
By this time Grimme had descended from his perilous perch, having completed the reeving of the halyard.
From Dikes and Ditches Young America in Holland and Belguim by Oliver Optic
In the meantime the first officer, Mr. Block, was sending up a new topgallant yard, reeving new rigging, repairing the sails, and getting everything ataunto aloft.
From Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue by Various
After four hours of very intricate navigation, called "reeving through the pack," we reached the West Water,—a wide ocean of water without one piece of floe-ice, and very few icebergs.
From Stray Leaves from an Arctic Journal; or, Eighteen Months in the Polar Regions, in Search of Sir John Franklin's Expedition, in the Years 1850-51 by Sherard Osborn
It was accomplished by reeving a line from hole to hole by means of the long slender pole already mentioned.
From The Hunters' Feast Conversations Around the Camp Fire by Mayne Reid
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