Moving about; having no fixed or permanent abode; travelling from place to place.
The Northern Territory was dear to us both, and the fever for a roving life had not yet worn off, but some time elapsed before we could quite make up our minds whether to try our fortunes in Port Darwin again or not.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 139:
2
Of the eyes or gaze, inspecting all over; not staying fixed on one subject.
His roving eyes never focused on anything specific.
It could complicate things for our little household. Particularly when Larry’s roving eye is factored in.1989, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Visible Breath, Dark Horse Books:
1 more example
There was a tall, green-eyed young woman with steeply slanting Central European cheekbones who particularly caught his sexually abstinent but still roving eye.2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:
Etymology From rove (“sliver of wool or cotton”), late 17th century, possibly from obsolete Middle English rove(n) (“to draw out, pull off”), itself a dialectal variant of rive (“to tear, split”).
1
A long and narrow bundle of fibre, usually used to spin woollen yarn or in felting.
Mr. J. W. Strange, of Taunton, Mass., has invented an improved method of laying roving in cans.1847, editorial staff, “Improvement in Roving Cans”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68: