English
drive
Etymology

From Middle English driven, from Old English drīfan, from Proto-West Germanic *drīban, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ-.

Cognate with Scots drive, Northern Frisian driwe, Saterland Frisian drieuwe, Western Frisian driuwe, Dutch drijven, Low German drieven, German treiben, Norwegian Bokmål drive, Danish drive, Norwegian Nynorsk driva, Swedish driva, Icelandic drífa.

Pronunciation Verb

drive (drives, present participle driving; simple past drove, past participle driven)

  1. To operate a vehicle
    1. (transitive, ergative) To operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle).
      drive a car
      This SUV drives insanely smoothly—it's like it knows what I want before I do.
    2. (intransitive) To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.
      I drive to work every day.
    3. (transitive) To convey (a person, etc.) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.
      My cousin drove me to the airport.
    4. (transitive, slang, aviation) To operate (an aircraft).
      drive a 737
    5. (transitive, intransitive) To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.
      • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene vi]:
        There is a litter ready; lay him in’t
        And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet
        Both welcome and protection.
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
        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.
  2. To compel to move
    1. (transitive) (especially of animals) To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.
      to drive twenty thousand head of cattle from Texas to the Kansas railheads; to drive sheep out of a field
    2. (transitive) (especially animals) To cause to flee out of.
      Synonyms: flush, flush out, scare up
      The hunting dog drove the birds out of the tall grass.
      We'll drive the enemy from these lands once and for all.
  3. To cause to move by the application of physical force
    1. (transitive) To provide an impetus for motion or other physical change, to move an object by means of the provision of force thereto.
      You drive nails into wood with a hammer.
    2. (transitive) To cause (a mechanism) to operate.
      The pistons drive the crankshaft.
    3. (intransitive, sports, cricket, tennis, baseball) To hit the ball with a drive.
    4. (transitive) To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.
  4. (transitive) To displace either physically or non-physically, through the application of force.
  5. To compel to undergo a non-physical change
    1. (transitive) To provide an impetus for a change in one's situation or state of mind.
      My husband's constant harping about the condition of the house threatens to drive me to distraction.
    2. (transitive) To motivate; to provide an incentive for.
      What drives a person to run a marathon?
    3. (transitive) To compel, exert pressure, coerce (to do something).
      Their debts finally drove them to sell the business.
      • c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC ↗:
        He driuen to dismount, threatned, if I did not the like, to doo as much for my horse, as Fortune had done for his.
      • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:
        But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
        Environ you, till mischief and despair
        Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!
    4. (transitive) To cause to become.
      This constant complaining is going to drive me insane.
      You are driving me crazy!
      • 1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud, XXV, 1. in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, p. 90,
        And then to hear a dead man chatter
        Is enough to drive one mad.
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
        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.
    5. (transitive) To motivate through the application or demonstration of force; to coerce, intimidate or threaten; to impel or urge onward in such a way.
      Frothing at the mouth and threatening expulsion, Coach relentlessly drove the team to more laps of the pitch.
    6. (transitive) To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.
      The negotiations were driven to completion minutes before the final deadline.
  6. (intransitive) To move forcefully.
  7. (intransitive) To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).
  8. (transitive) To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.
  9. (transitive) To clear, by forcing away what is contained.
  10. (mining) To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.
  11. (American football) To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.
  12. (obsolete) To distrain for rent.
  13. To be the dominant party in a sex act.
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drive

  1. Planned, usually long-lasting, effort to achieve something; ability coupled with ambition, determination, and motivation.
    Synonyms: ambition, grit, push, verve, motivation, get-up-and-go, self-motivation
    Antonyms: inertia, lack of motivation, laziness, phlegm, sloth
    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 (prompting) game animals forward, to be captured or hunted.
  4. An act of driving (prompting) livestock animals forward, to transport a herd.
    Synonyms: drove#Noun, drift#Noun
  5. (military) A sustained advance in the face of the enemy to take a strategic objective.
    Synonyms: attack, push
    Napoleon's drive on Moscow was as determined as it was disastrous.
  6. A mechanism used to power or give motion to a vehicle or other machine or machine part.
    Synonyms: gear, engine, , motor
    a typical steam drive
    a nuclear drive
    chain drive
    front-wheel drive
    Some old model trains have clockwork drives.
  7. A trip made in a vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).
    Synonyms: ride, spin, trip
    It was a long drive.
  8. A driveway.
    Synonyms: approach, driveway
    The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive.
  9. A type of public roadway.
    Synonyms: avenue, boulevard, road, street
    Beverly Hills’ most famous street is Rodeo Drive.
  10. (dated) A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.
  11. (psychology) Desire or interest.
    Synonyms: desire, impetus, impulse, urge
  12. (computer hardware) An apparatus for reading and writing data to or from a mass storage device such as a disk.
    Synonyms: disk drive
    Hyponym: floppy drive
  13. (computer hardware) A mass storage device in which the mechanism for reading and writing data is integrated with the mechanism for storing data.
    Hyponyms: hard drive, flash drive
  14. (golf) A stroke made with a driver.
  15. (baseball, tennis) A ball struck in a flat trajectory.
  16. (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.
  17. (soccer) A straight level shot or pass.
  18. (American football) An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.
  19. (philanthropy) A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.
    a whist drive
    a beetle drive
  20. (retail) A campaign aimed at selling more of a certain product, e.g. by offering a discount.
    vaccination drive
  21. (typography) An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.
  22. A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.
  23. (UK, especially, Bristol and Wales, slang) Friendly term of address for a bus driver.
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