• Drive

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: drÄ«v, IPA: /draɪv/
    • Rhymes: -aɪv

    Origin

    From Middle English driven, from Old English drīfan ("to drive, force, move, chase, hunt, follow up, pursue; impel by physical force, rush against, thrust, carry off vigorously, transact, prosecute, conduct, practice, carry on, exercise, do; speak often of a matter, bring up, agitate, trot out; urge a cause; suffer, undergo; proceed with violence, rush with violence, act impetuously"), from Proto-Germanic *drībaną ("to drive"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- ("to drive, push"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- ("cloudy, dirty, muddy"). Cognate with Scots drive ("to drive"), North Frisian driwe ("to drive"), West Frisian driuwe ("to chase, drive, impel"), Dutch drijven ("to drive"), Low German drieven ("to drive, drift, push"), German treiben ("to drive, push, propel"), Danish drive ("to drive, run, force"), Swedish driva ("to drive, power, drift, push, force"), Icelandic drífa ("to drive, hurry, rush").

    Full definition of drive

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.to drive sheep out of a field
      • Jowett (Thucyd.)A storm came on and drove them into Pylos.
    2. (transitive, intransitive) To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 2, We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.
    3. (transitive) To cause animals to flee out of.
      The beaters drove the brambles, causing a great rush of rabbits and other creatures.
    4. (transitive) To move (something) by hitting it with great force.
      You drive nails into wood with a hammer.
    5. (transitive) To cause (a mechanism) to operate.
      The pistons drive the crankshaft.
    6. (transitive, ergative) To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).
      drive a car
    7. (transitive) To motivate; to provide an incentive for.
      What drives a person to run a marathon?
    8. (transitive) To compel (to do something).
      Their debts finally drove them to sell the business.
    9. (transitive) To cause to become.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
    10. This constant complaining is going to drive me to insanity.   You are driving me crazy!
    11. (intransitive, cricket) To hit the ball with a drive.
    12. (intransitive) To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.
      I drive to work every day.
    13. (transitive) To convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.
      My wife drove me to the airport.
    14. (intransitive) To move forcefully.
      • DrydenFierce Boreas drove against his flying sails.
      • Prescottunder cover of the night and a driving tempest
      • TennysonTime driveth onward fast,
        And in a little while our lips are dumb.
      • 2010, December 29, Mark Vesty, Wigan 2-2 Arsenal, The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny.
    15. To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.
      • Tennysonenough to drive one mad
      • Sir Philip SidneyHe, driven to dismount, threatened, if I did not do the like, to do as much for my horse as fortune had done for his.
    16. To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.
      • CollierThe trade of life can not be driven without partners.
    17. To clear, by forcing away what is contained.
      • Drydento drive the country, force the swains away
    18. (mining) To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.
    19. (obsolete) To distrain for rent.

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    Terms derived from the verb to drive

    Related terms

    Noun

    drive

    (plural drives)
    1. (self-motivation)Self-motivation; ability coupled with ambition.
      Crassus had wealth and wit, but Pompey had drive and Caesar as much again.
    2. Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; especially, a forced or hurried dispatch of business.
    3. An act of driving animals forward, to be captured, hunted etc.
      • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, p. 79:Are you all ready?’ he cried, and set off towards the dead ash where the drive would begin.
    4. (military) A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take a strategic objective.
      Napoleon's drive on Moscow was as determined as it was disastrous.
    5. A motor that does not take fuel, but instead depends on a mechanism that stores potential energy for subsequent use.
      Some old model trains have clockwork drives.
    6. A trip made in a motor vehicle.
      It was a long drive.
    7. A driveway.
      The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.
    8. A type of public roadway.
      Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive.
    9. (dated) A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.
    10. (psychology) Desire or interest.
    11. (computing) An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk, as a floppy drive.
    12. (computing) A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data, as a hard drive, a flash drive.
    13. (golf) A stroke made with a driver.
    14. (baseball) A ball struck in a flat trajectory.
    15. (cricket) A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a vertical arc, through the line of the ball, and hitting it along the ground, normally between cover and midwicket.
    16. (soccer) A straight level shot or pass.
      • 2010, December 29, Mark Vesty, Wigan 2-2 Arsenal, And after Rodallega missed two early opportunities, the first a header, the second a low drive easily held by Lukasz Fabianski, it was N'Zogbia who created the opening goal.
    17. A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive
    18. (typography) An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.
    19. A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

    Usage notes

    In connection with a mass-storage device, originally the word "drive" referred solely to the reading and writing mechanism. For the storage device itself, the word "disk" was used instead. This remains a valid distinction for components such as floppy drives or CD drives, in which the drive and the disk are separate and independent items. For other devices, such as hard disks and flash drives, the reading, writing and storage components are combined into an integrated whole, and can not be separated without destroying the device. In these cases, the words "disk" and "drive" are used interchangeably.

    Synonyms

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    Terms derived from the noun drive

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