in droves
28
3.2
- idiom
- During the sale, shoppers came in droves to grab the best deals.
- left in droves
- coming in droves
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Watch on YouTubeThey're still going to show up in droves to vote for Biden.
- They're still going to show up in droves to vote for Biden.
- The construction industry is moving out of here in droves.
- And this offers that in droves.
- And by the way, if a better store comes along, then they will desert you in droves.
- People move from New York to Texas in droves.
- And the police are retiring in droves, right, Ted?
- And you see in Mexico that they are just coming in droves to the Texas border, thousands per day.
- My friends are my friends are leaving Hawaii in droves, but the Asians are moving in.
- Where you got people leaving California and New York in droves.
Examples
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People will line up in droves to eat our foods because they know they're safe and fair.
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And I knew that people would come out in droves.
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Our guys have been coming down in droves all night.
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People are turning away from the church in droves.
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Young people were leaving in droves.
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If it gets any worse, staff is going to be let go in droves.
Fiction book (1992) -
We'll put an ad in the paper, and people will come out in droves.
Fiction book (1990) -
And they came out in droves in the South to support Jimmy Carter, thinking he would be one of them.
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As the crowd continued to grow in size and spirit, government troops defected in droves to the side of the people.
Academic text (2006) -
Parents often show up in droves to see young children perform in elementary Parent-Teacher Association programs.
Academic text (2011)
Antonyms
How Many
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'drove' denotes a large group and the preposition 'in' marks manner or grouping, so 'in droves' compositionally yields 'in large groups / numbers' and is directly inferable by a learner who knows both words. While 'drove' as a collective noun is somewhat less frequent, the meaning follows a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern and is therefore transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
In droves may come from the old word drove, which meant a group of animals driven together to market. Imagine many animals moving at the same time; that picture explains why in droves now means 'in very large numbers'.