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Kite vs Rover - What's the difference?

kite | rover |

In obsolete terms the difference between kite and rover

is that kite is to hunt with a hawk while rover is a sort of arrow.

As nouns the difference between kite and rover

is that kite is a bird of prey of the family Accipitridae belonging to one of the following groups while rover is a randomly selected target.

As a verb kite

is to fly a kite.

As a proper noun Rover is

a stereotypical name for a dog.

kite

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Alternative forms

* (l)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae belonging to one of the following groups:
  • # Any bird of subfamily Milvinae, with long wings and weak legs, feeding mostly on carrion and spending long periods soaring.
  • # A bird of genus Elanus , having thin pointed wings, that preys on rodents and hunts by hovering. Also, any bird of related genera in the subfamily Elaninae.
  • A lightweight toy or other device carried on the wind and tethered and controlled from the ground by one or more lines.
  • A tethered object which deflects its position in a medium by obtaining lift and drag in reaction with its relative motion in the medium.
  • * {{quote-news, 1906, September 12, , Water Kites, Fairbanks Evening News, page=2 citation
    • , passage=The purpose of the water kite is to float beneath or beside the ship at a depth sufficient to insure safety.}}
  • (label) A quadrilateral having two pairs of edges of equal length, the edges of each pair being consecutive.
  • (label) A fraudulent draft, such as a check one drawn on insufficient funds or with altered face value.
  • * {{quote-news, 1991, May 21, Alex Barnum, Suspect Named in Kiting Case, San Jose Mercury News citation
    • , passage= But she said, "if this was a kite , he didn't realize that you don't have the float time of the old days," which made check-kiting easier. }}
  • (label) A planetary configuration wherein one planet of a grand trine is in opposition to an additional fourth planet.
  • * {{quote-book, 2002, Erin Sullivan, Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape, page=144-145 citation
    • , passage=Frequently a kite formation is created by one of the planets in the trine by its opposition to another planet, which allows expulsion and redirection of the pent-up energy associated with a closed circuit.}}
  • (label) An aircraft, or aeroplane.
  • * {{quote-book, 2004, Harry Foxley, Marking Time: An Account Of Ordinary Soldiering, page=133 citation
    • , passage=This time, the engine roared and the kite rocked against the brakes then sluggishly rolled down the strip.}}
  • A lightweight sail set above the topgallants, such as a studding-sail.
  • * {{quote-book, 1863, , 3= English Traits, page=33
    • , passage=Our good master keeps his kites up to the last moment, studding-sails alow and aloft, and, by incessant straight steering, never loses a rod of way.}}
  • A spinnaker.
  • A short letter.
  • (label) A rapacious person.
  • * Shakespeare
  • A fish, the brill.
    • Derived terms
    {{der3, black kite , box kite , go fly a kite , high as a kite , kiteboarding , kite buggy , kite fishing , kite surfing , powerkite , stunt kite , yellow-billed kite}}

    Verb

    (kit)
  • To fly a kite.
  • To glide in the manner of a kite.
  • To travel by kite, as when kitesurfing.
  • To toss or cast.
  • * {{quote-book, 1942, , Phantom Lady, page=189 citation
    • , passage=Lombard swung at the sweet pea he had dropped, caught it neatly with the toe of his shoe, and kited it upward with grim zest, as though doing that made him feel a lot better.}}
  • (label) To write a check on an account with insufficient funds, expecting that funds will become available by the time the check clears.
  • (label) To cause an increase, especially in costs.
  • (label) To keep ahead of (a pursuing monster or mob) in order to attack it repeatedly from a distance, without exposing oneself to danger.
  • * {{quote-book, 2001, Juanita Jones, Everquest Player's Guide: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, page=87 citation
    • , passage=If you're pulling or kiting a creature and it aggros an innocent passer-by, it's your fault and you should apologize.}}
  • To deflect sideways in the water.
  • * {{quote-us-patent, 1973, Clarence K. Chatten, Weather Resistant Segmented Fairing for a Tow Cable, 3899991 citation
    • , passage=This column action causes the tow line to kite either to the port or the starboard side,
  • To send a short letter.
  • * {{quote-book, 1966, Rose Giallombardo, Society of Women: A Study of a Women's Prison citation
    • , passage=I have been working like a dam mule this morning and just found time to kite you.}}
  • To steal.
  • * {{quote-book, 1994, , The Shawshank Redemption, page=36 citation
    • , passage= Andy also kept a box of that in his cell, although he didn't get it from me — I imagine he kited it from the prison laundry.}}
  • (label) To hunt with a hawk.
    • (Francis Bacon)
    Derived terms
    * check kiting * kiter

    See also

    * * *

    Etymology 2

    Origin uncertain. Possibly from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * (Scotland)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The stomach; belly.

    • Etymology 3

    Probably from Ancient Egyptian.

    Noun

    (kite)
  • (label) A weight-measure unit from Ancient Egypt, equivalent to 0.1 deben

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    rover

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archery, usually plural) A randomly selected target.
    • 1890' ''"By my hilt! no. There was little Robby Withstaff, and Andrew Salblaster, and Wat Alspaye, who broke the neck of the German. Mon Dieu! what men they were! Take them how you would, at long butts or short, hoyles, rounds, or '''rovers , better bowmen never twirled a shaft over their thumb-nails." '' — Arthur Conan Doyle, ''The White Company , Chapter 22.
  • One who roves, a wanderer, a nomad.
    • 1846' ''But these islands, undisturbed for years, relapsed into their previous obscurity; and it is only recently that anything has been known concerning them. Once in the course of a half century, to be sure, some adventurous '''rover would break in upon their peaceful repose. and astonished at the unusual scene, would be almost tempted to claim the merit of a new discovery.'' — Herman Melville, ''Typee , Chapter 1.
  • A vagabond, a tramp, an unsteady, restless person, one who by habit doesn't settle down or marry.
    • She is a rover and dislikes any sort of ties, physical or emotional.
    1954' ''Give him the word, that I'm not a '''rover , and tell him that his lonely days are over.
  • A vehicle for exploring extraterrestrial bodies.
    • The Mars Exploration Rovers will act as robot geologists while they are on the surface of Mars. NASA site.
  • 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').
  • (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.
  • (obsolete) A sort of arrow.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • All sorts, flights, rovers , and butt shafts.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl), roven , to rob. Cognate with Danish and Norwegian

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pirate or pirate ship.
    • 1719' ''The first was this: our ship making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised in the grey of the morning by a Turkish '''rover of Sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail she could make.'' — Daniel Defoe, ''Robinnson Crusoe , Chapter 2.
  • * Holland
    • Yet Pompey the Great deserveth honour more justly for scouring the seas, and taking from the rovers 846 sail of ships.
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