I. ˈdrīv verb
( drove ˈdrōv ; or archaic drave ˈdrāv ; or dialect driv ˈdriv ; or druv ˈdrəv ; driv·en ˈdrivən also -iv ə m or -ib ə m ; or archaic drove or dialect driv or druv ; driv·ing ˈdrīviŋ ; drives ˈdrīvz)
Etymology: Middle English driven, from Old English drīfan; akin to Old High German trīban to drive, Old Norse drīfa to dash (said of spray), Gothic dreiban to drive, and perhaps to Lithuanian dribti to fall in mushy flakes (said of snow)
transitive verb
1. : to set and keep in motion or in action through application of some amount of force:
a. : to impart an onward or forward motion to by expenditure of physical force : propel
he slammed the door and drove the bolt home
cheerily drove his pen afresh — George Meredith
as white as the driven snow
the trade winds drive the equatorial currents
driving his canoe onto the beach
b. : to impart violent motion or great impetus to : hurl, thrust, plunge, or press irresistibly — used with a following preposition or adverb indicating the direction
a tackler should drive his body so as to hit the ballcarrier just above the knees
he drove the muzzle hard into the man's face — Max Peacock
specifically : vaporize — used with off
heat will drive off the quicksilver
c. : to urge along (as cattle) guiding and often goading
cowboys drove herds north
prisoners were driven onto barges
d. : to cause to penetrate with force
as a man would drive a nail — J.G.Frazer
: plunge forcibly
I drove my sword through his heart — Padraic Colum
e. : to direct hostile force or a strong offensive movement against : exert strong effective pressure against — used with a separative expression
many attempts to drive the British out of Egypt
the task of driving the invaders back across the border
with the German eagle driven from the seas — R.W.Van Alstyne
the noise would drive you out of the place — Ellwood Kirby
f. : to constrain to go or to remove by reason of superior authority or influence or because of circumstantial pressure (as political or economic)
engaged in a long attempt to drive Burr from public life — Nathan Schachner
this wetback competition annually drives thousands of Texans as far north as Oregon in search of work — D.L.Graham
also : to force the removal or banishment of
radio has driven the newspaper extra from the streets
g. : to supply with motive power
machines driven by clockwork
whether it was being driven as a generator or was running as a motor — F.A.Annett
: set or keep in operation
drove their mills with water power
2.
a. : to direct the motions and course of (a draft animal)
b. : navigate
drive a watercraft
c. : to operate the controls of (a locomotive) or to operate the mechanism and controls and direct the course of (as a motor vehicle or speedboat)
d. : to convey in a vehicle
he had to drive his produce to market before daylight
e. : to guide a vehicle along or through
drove the river road in all kinds of weather
drove creek beds and sidehills to reach his backcountry patients
f. : to own and use (as an automobile of an indicated kind)
he always drove a sedan
g. : to float (logs) down a stream
3.
a. : to carry on or carry through energetically
shipowners were driving a roaring trade in oriental ports
b. : to carry through to a conclusion or to completion in spite of hindrances
they will not give up their bargaining advantage without driving a hard bargain politically — Cecil Hobbs
specifically : to lay out and construct by the methods of engineering
superhighway being driven across the state
c. : to build (a highway, canal, railroad) along a projected course
4. : to subject to effective pressure or compulsion to act in a certain way or to submit to a certain condition: as
a. : to exert inescapable or coercive pressure on (a person) : motivate or incite irresistibly : coerce , constrain , oblige — used often with a following preposition or infinitive indicating the direction of constraint
hunger drove him to steal
to make us believe that his characters are fellow beings driven by their own passions and idiosyncracies — Virginia Woolf
he used only persuasion, for he knew she could not be driven
a wayward genius who is driven to incredible writing feats by pressure of debts — Leslie Rees
economic insecurity that drives young people into vocational training — A.W.Griswold
b. : to oblige to suffer or have recourse to a mood or mental state
to what depths of bitterness she had been driven — Herbert Read
continuing pressure of the unsolved problem drives the society … to a precipitate and spurious defense mechanism — Weston La Barre
specifically : to compel to undergo or suffer a change of state
driven desperate by the pressures of drab life — Evelyn Eaton
a stupid cocotte who has begun by driving him mad with jealousy — Edmund Wilson
c. : to urge relentlessly to continuous exertion
he drives them hard with five-mile runs before breakfast — Harry Gordon
I have been ruthlessly driven — hence this silence — H.J.Laski
: press or spur to greater intensity of determined striving
a tired spirit driving body and nerves to an effort they were crying to avoid — Fred Majdalany
believed men were driven hardest by ambition — M.A.Kline
he lacked the will that drives one to disregard human factors, to crush all who opposed him
d. : to press or force (something) inflexibly into a certain activity, course, direction, or state
forces which had driven the tide of population across the Alleghenies — R.A.Billington
discipline required to drive the bill through congress
advised against driving the party underground
specifically : to subject to pressure to bring about change either up or down
going to try to drive interest rates down which meant driving up the capital value of existing loans — Harold Wincott
e. : to project, inject, or impress incisively
only a few are willing to drive this doctrine straight through to its logical conclusion — Clinton Rossiter
the basic point at last is driven solidly home in a 56-page booklet — R.D.Darrell
the laconic or sententious phrase to drive home and imbed what might otherwise be lost or scattered — B.N.Cardozo
f. : to cause (something intangible) to dissipate or vanish decisively through the pressure of some moving power or influence
as the corroborative detail drove doubts from his mind — T.B.Costain
a sad day for the United States if the tradition of dissent were driven out of the universities — J.B.Conant
specifically : to dispel and replace
resolved that sound Latin … should drive out, for literary purposes, the Italian vernaculars and medieval Latin — G.C.Sellery
5. archaic : bring
drive bad luck
: cast
drive not the fault on him — Robert Bridges †1930
6.
a. obsolete : to cause to pass
drive the tedious hours away — John Dryden
b. : protract , defer
drive bedtime
7. obsolete : to conclude from premises : deduce
8.
a. obsolete : to pursue (game) as a hunter
b. : to cause (as game animals) to move in a desired direction (as toward waiting hunters)
beaters drove the birds toward the guns
also : to drive game in (a particular place)
we will drive the small woods by the stream tomorrow
— compare stalk , walk up
c. obsolete : to clear or strip (as a region) of animals or other property ; also : to drive off : seize
drive animals
9.
a. : to advance (as a tunnel or a horizontal or upwardly inclined mine passage) by cutting and excavating
b. : produce
drive a well
10. : to propel (an object of play) swiftly (as by a powerful stroke or throw):
a. : to strike (a bowled cricket ball) with the bat so as to propel in a forward direction
b. : to send (a croquet ball) to some desired position by striking another ball held in contact
c. : to play (a golf ball) from the tee especially with a full stroke made with a driver
d. : to hit (a tennis ball) on the bounce with a below-shoulder-level swing and with top spin — distinguished from chop, slice, and volley
e. : to return (a shuttlecock) with a low hard shot parallel to the ground — compare smash
f. : to cause (a run or runner) to be scored in baseball especially by making a hit — usually used with in
g. : to force (a billiard ball) to strike one or more cushions and return to the desired position for the next shot
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to dash, plunge, or surge ahead rapidly or violently
the halfback drove through the line
he drove rudely past her into the room — E.F.McGuire
b. : to rush along thrusting or striking with force against any obstruction
he crossed the river in the midst of driving ice
a meteor driving toward the earth
the slanting rain, which drove faster every minute — Ellen Glasgow
c. : to press a hostile attack
the division drove some 400 miles
d. : to penetrate with force
the harpoon drove deep
2. : to move to leeward or with the tide out of control by rudder, sail, or engines ; also : to carry excessive sail
3. : to launch a blow or missile or discharge a bullet — often used with a following at and a preceding let
just as a snarling Queen's Ranger drove at him — F.V.W.Mason
he then seized the shotgun and let drive with both barrels
4.
a. : to strive determinedly on a course or toward an objective
try to drive toward a generalization and a hypothesis — Lionel Trilling
driving through obstacles — Time
the decision to drive ahead with all speed for the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb — W.H.Chamberlin
also : to make a strong effort
the justices are driving hard to clean up pending cases — Christian Science Monitor
b. : to spur oneself or others to strenuous effort or to greater intensity of physical or mental exertion
even after reaching the top he continues to drive
5.
a. : to guide a horse-drawn vehicle
b. : to operate and steer a motor vehicle
road signs warning motorists to drive slow
c. : to have oneself carried in a vehicle
I drove there with a friend and flew back by myself
6. archaic : to levy a distress to obtain satisfaction of a claim for rent : distrain
7. : to drive a mine passage
8. : to drive an object of play (as a golf ball)
9. : to perform music with a strong rhythmic impulse : play with momentum
Synonyms: see move
•
- drive at
II. noun
( -s )
1. : an act of driving:
a. : a short trip in a vehicle (as a carriage or automobile) wholly or partly under one's control as distinguished from a vehicle (as a train) under the control of another
an afternoon drive along the lakefront
a 2-hour drive to the next city
b. : an overland journey in a vehicle especially along a highway for a long distance
a cross-state drive
the third day's drive became wearisome
c. : an urging and gathering together of animals (as cattle or sheep) from a wide area ; also : the animals gathered for capture, slaughter, or branding
d. : a driving of cattle or sheep overland
the long drive lingered only in the memories and imaginations of old cowhands — D.B.Davis
e. : a hunt or shoot in which the game is driven within range past the weapons of hunters ; also : the mass of animals so driven
f. : the guiding of logs downstream to a mill ; also : the floating logs amassed in a drive
g.
(1) : the act or an instance of driving an object of play (as a ball)
the drive is called the basic scoring shot in cricket
a low drive that hit the net
(2) : the flight of a hard-hit ball or shuttlecock
his solid drives range between 220 and 240 yards
h. : the forward thrust or propulsive force of a boat under way
i. Britain : a stately or ceremonious public procession
2.
a. : a private road for vehicles affording access to a residence or other buildings
the house stands at the end of a long drive surrounded by spacious lawns and gardens — American Guide Series: Florida
: driveway 2
b. : a road for leisure driving especially in a park or along a scenic route
the highway now skirts the lakeshore with all the fresh beauty of a seacoast drive — American Guide Series: Vermont
c. : an urban street or boulevard
Morningside Drive overlooking the Hudson
3. : a tract over which game is driven : the site of an organized hunt
4. : an offensive, aggressive, or expansionist move
in the path of the Soviet drive toward the Adriatic — H.C.Wolfe
both touchdowns capped long drives
especially : a strong military attack against enemy-held terrain
a swift nine-month drive from the Normandy bridgehead … across France and Germany and into Austria — Current Biography
5. : the state of being hurried and under pressure
elude the ruthless drive of work and worry — S.H.Adams
I am in such a drive that I can't expatiate — H.J.Laski
6. : a driven mine passage or tunnel
7. : strike 14
8. : a systematic effort strenuously participated in by a group or organized by a group and insistently urged upon a community or a nation toward attainment of a certain objective or furtherance of some special design : an intensive campaign
an annual drive for membership in the league
a propaganda drive aimed at undermining our prestige abroad
sparked drives that raised many hundreds of thousands of dollars for veterans' hospitals and … relief — J.A.Morris b. 1904
the drive for national independence has had a long history in Indochina — Cecil Hobbs
9. : a progressive game (as of whist or bridge)
10. : inciting or impelling character or quality:
a. : an urgent basic or instinctual need pressing for satisfaction : a physiological tension, lack, or imbalance (as a state of hunger or thirst) impelling the organism to activity
those sexual drives which are such a fertile source of conflict among most vertebrates — Ralph Linton
habits attached to the hunger drive
also : a tendency or disposition to act following or as a result of a deprivation or need
b. : a powerfully impelling culturally acquired concern, interest, or longing that incites one to unremitting action
possessed with a drive for perfection — Time
the integrating drive or disposition that gives a life history its continuity or a personality its consistency and integrity — H.J.Muller
a prisoner of the old national and imperialist drives — Partisan Review
“Asia for the Asians” … represents the drive of millions upon millions of people — W.O.Douglas
c. : dynamic quality marked by initiative, promptness of decision, abundance of concentrated energy, and indomitable persistence in carrying through an undertaking toward accomplishment : vigorous enterprise : the amount of energy and persistence evidenced in a given activity : élan , push
his drive and enthusiasm overcame all obstacles — Times Literary Supplement
a tremendous energy drive that keeps him in a constant state of high gear — Martin Gardner
the city had lost … the surging drive that supposedly was so characteristically American — Harold Sinclair
concerned with the dynamic core of a society, its central impulse and drive — Charles Maughan
d. : a quality of sustained vitality and intensity of expression in intellectual or artistic composition or performance
he developed irresistible drive in the performance of plays — Sheldon Cheney
a stronger drive in the big climaxes — Irving Kolodin
e. : dramatic intensity and suspensiveness that captures attention
f. : a strong rhythmic impulse communicated in musical performance
11.
a. : the means for giving motion to a machine or machine part
belt drive
electric drive
also : a method of driving machines
a group drive
b. : the means by which the propulsive power of an automobile is applied to the road
front-wheel drive
four-wheel drive
c. : the means by which the propulsion of an automotive vehicle is controlled and directed
a left-hand drive
also : the place where the operator sits to drive
an enclosed drive
12. : the pressure that causes oil or other fluid to enter a well from the surrounding rock strata
water drive
gas-cap drive
13. : an offering of goods at a low price (as in reducing inventory)
Synonyms: see vigor
III. adjective
: used in or for driving : serving to drive : impelling
a drive chain
IV. verb
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- drive home
V. noun
: a device including an electric motor and heads or a laser for reading or writing on magnetic or optical media (as tapes or disks)