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Drive   /draɪv/   Listen
noun
Drive  n.  
1.
In various games, as tennis, cricket, etc., the act of player who drives the ball; the stroke or blow; the flight of the ball, etc., so driven.
2.
(Golf) A stroke from the tee, generally a full shot made with a driver; also, the distance covered by such a stroke. Note: Drive, in all its senses, implies forcible or violent action. It is the reverse of to lead. To drive a body is to move it by applying a force behind; to lead is to cause to move by applying the force before, or in front. It takes a variety of meanings, according to the objects by which it is followed; as, to drive an engine, to direct and regulate its motions; to drive logs, to keep them in the current of a river and direct them in their course; to drive feathers or down, to place them in a machine, which, by a current of air, drives off the lightest to one end, and collects them by themselves. "My thrice-driven bed of down."



Drive  n.  
1.
The act of driving; a trip or an excursion in a carriage, as for exercise or pleasure; distinguished from a ride taken on horseback.
2.
A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.
3.
Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; esp., a forced or hurried dispatch of business. "The Murdstonian drive in business."
4.
In type founding and forging, an impression or matrix, formed by a punch drift.
5.
A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river. (Colloq.)
Synonyms: See Ride.
6.
A private road; a driveway.
7.
A strong psychological motivation to perform some activity.
8.
(Computers) A device for reading or writing data from or to a data storage medium, as a disk drive, a tape drive, a CD drive, etc.
9.
An organized effort by a group to accomplish a goal within a limited period of time; as, a fund-raising drive.
10.
A physiological function of an organism motivating it to perform specific behaviors; as, the sex drive.
11.
(Football) The period during which one team sustains movement of the ball toward the opponent's goal without losing possession of the ball; as, a long drive downfield.
12.
An act of driving a vehicle, especially an automobile; the journey undertaken by driving an automobile; as, to go for a drive in the country.
13.
The mechanism which causes the moving parts of a machine to move; as, a belt drive.
14.
The way in which the propulsive force of a vehicle is transmitted to the road; as, a car with four-wheel drive, front-wheel drive, etc.



verb
Drive  v. t.  (past drove, formerly drave; past part. driven; pres. part. driving)  
1.
To impel or urge onward by force in a direction away from one, or along before one; to push forward; to compel to move on; to communicate motion to; as, to drive cattle; to drive a nail; smoke drives persons from a room. "A storm came on and drove them into Pylos." "Shield pressed on shield, and man drove man along." "Go drive the deer and drag the finny prey."
2.
To urge on and direct the motions of, as the beasts which draw a vehicle, or the vehicle borne by them; hence, also, to take in a carriage; to convey in a vehicle drawn by beasts; as, to drive a pair of horses or a stage; to drive a person to his own door. "How... proud he was to drive such a brother!"
3.
To urge, impel, or hurry forward; to force; to constrain; to urge, press, or bring to a point or state; as, to drive a person by necessity, by persuasion, by force of circumstances, by argument, and the like. " Enough to drive one mad." "He, driven to dismount, threatened, if I did not do the like, to do as much for my horse as fortune had done for his."
4.
To carry or; to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute. (Now used only colloquially.) "The trade of life can not be driven without partners."
5.
To clear, by forcing away what is contained. "To drive the country, force the swains away."
6.
(Mining) To dig Horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.
7.
To pass away; said of time. (Obs.)
8.
Specif., in various games, as tennis, baseball, etc., to propel (the ball) swiftly by a direct stroke or forcible throw.
9.
To operate (a vehicle) while it is on motion, by manipulating the controls, such as the steering, propulsion, and braking mechanisms.



Drive  v. i.  (past drove, formerly drave; past part. driven; pres. part. driving)  
1.
To rush and press with violence; to move furiously. "Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails." "Under cover of the night and a driving tempest." "Time driveth onward fast, And in a little while our lips are dumb."
2.
To be forced along; to be impelled; to be moved by any physical force or agent; to be driven. "The hull drives on, though mast and sail be torn." "The chaise drives to Mr. Draper's chambers."
3.
To go by carriage; to pass in a carriage; to proceed by directing or urging on a vehicle or the animals that draw it; as, the coachman drove to my door.
4.
To press forward; to aim, or tend, to a point; to make an effort; to strive; usually with at. "Let them therefore declare what carnal or secular interest he drove at."
5.
To distrain for rent. (Obs.)
6.
(Golf) To make a drive, or stroke from the tee.
7.
To go from one place to another in a vehicle, serving as the operator of the vehicle; to drive (9) a vehicle from one location to another. "He drove from New York to Boston in four hours."
To let drive, to aim a blow; to strike with force; to attack. "Four rogues in buckram let drive at me."



Drive  past part.  Driven. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Drive" Quotes from Famous Books



... brought me your letter yesterday. . . . I hope you have time to enjoy this fine weather. I please myself with imagining various enjoyments for you all in the peaceful scenes around you, maugre the household cares that must fall to your lot. May the spirit of inspiration drive all petty cares from your husband, and fill his soul with thoughts that shall bear blessings to ages yet unborn!' He must write—therefore you must court the love of the humble, whose destiny it is to lighten the labors of the ...
— Memories of Hawthorne • Rose Hawthorne Lathrop

... rules, which at present govern the pitching, place a premium on brute strength, and unless one has a fair share of this he will never become a leading pitcher. There are a few so-called good professional players whose sole conception of the position is to drive the ball through with all possible speed, while others whose skill and strategy have been proven by long service, are forced out of the position because they have not sufficient speed for the ...
— Base-Ball - How to Become a Player • John M. Ward

... LAURA.] Well now, you just brace up and cut out all that emotional stuff. I came down to take you for a drive. You'd like it; just through the park. ...
— The Easiest Way - Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911 • Eugene Walter

... should not have thought of it," he went on, naively, as though he were trying to be quite fair, "had not Father Paul pointed out to me what I should do, how I could raise the people and stop the abuses which made them drive us from the island. The people must be taxed less heavily, and the money must be spent for them and not for us, on roads and harbors and schools, not at the Palace on banquets and fetes. These are Father Paul's ideas, not mine,—but now I make them mine." He rose and paced the length of ...
— The King's Jackal • Richard Harding Davis

... His principles being ceased, he ended straight. Rest, that gives all men life, gave him his death, And too much breathing put him out of breath; Nor were it contradiction to affirm Too long vacation hastened on his term. Merely to drive the time away he sickened, Fainted, and died, nor would with ale be quickened. "Nay," quoth he, on his swooning-bed outstretched, "If I mayn't carry, sure I'll ne'er be fetched, But vow, though the cross doctors all stood hearers, For one carrier put down ...
— Character Writings of the 17th Century • Various


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