Rover

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹəʊvə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. Someone who moves about without a fixed destination ; a machine designed to traverse and investigate uneven or difficult ground
2. An individual who travels extensively and without a specific purpose ; a transport device built for exploration over harsh or unpaved surfaces
3. A person who wanders from place to place typically without a permanent home ; a vehicle specialized for navigating and surveying challenging landscapes

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "rover" is that it has two unrelated origins that happened to land on the same spelling. One sense, the wanderer, comes from "rove", which meant to roam or stray; the other, the pirate, comes from a Germanic word for plundering. The pirate sense arrived in Middle English from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German "rôver", meaning a plunderer or robber, and it survives in German "Räuber" and Danish "røver". It is a doublet of "reaver", a relative that kept the older, rougher flavour of raiding. The wandering sense is murkier. "Rove" appears in Late Middle English, and its ultimate source is uncertain; it may be a Midlands variant of a Northern English word meaning to stray, possibly linked to Old Norse "ráfa". Archery gave the verb a side meaning too, to shoot an arrow at no fixed target, which fits the idea of aimless movement. A third, separate "rove" means to card wool or cotton into loose strands, and the agent noun from that is unrelated to both senses above. The vehicle sense, a machine built for rough or unpaved ground, is a modern extension of the wanderer meaning, applied to exploration rather than to people.

Synonyms: wanderer, explorer, traveler