drive

• (type of public roadway): Dr. (when part of a specific street’s name)

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- (“support, hold”). Cognate with Scots drive (“to drive”), North Frisian driwe (“to drive”), Saterland Frisian drieuwe (“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”), Norwegian Bokmål drive, Danish drive (“to drive, run, force”), Norwegian Nynorsk driva, Swedish driva (“to drive, power, drift, push, force”), Icelandic drífa (“to drive, hurry, rush”).

• enPR: drīv, IPA^(key): /dɹaɪv/
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʒɹaɪv]

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• Rhymes: -aɪv

drive (countable and uncountable, plural drives)

1. Motivation to do or achieve something; ability coupled with ambition.
   • 1986, Fred Matheny, Solo Cycling: How to Train and Race Bicycle Time Trials (page 136)

     I confess that the sight of my minute man ahead, getting closer and closer, gives me a little more drive even when I think I am going as fast as I can.

   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.
   • Matthew Arnold

     The Murdstonian drive in business.

3. An act of driving animals forward, as to be captured, hunted etc.
   • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate 2012, page 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 vehicle (now generally in a motor vehicle).

   It was a long drive.

   • 1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White:

     We merely waited to rouse good Mrs. Vesey from the place which she still occupied at the deserted luncheon-table, before we entered the open carriage for our promised drive.

7. A driveway.

   The mansion had a long, tree-lined drive.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     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.
    • 1995 March 2, John Carman, "Believe it, You Saw It In Sweeps", SFGate

      On the latter show, former Playboy Playmate Carrie Westcott said she'd never met a man who could match her sexual drive.

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, tennis) 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”, in BBC:

      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. (American football) An offensive possession, generally one consisting of several plays and/ or first downs, often leading to a scoring opportunity.
18. A charity event such as a fundraiser, bake sale, or toy drive.

    a whist drive; a beetle drive

19. (retail) A campaign aimed at selling more of a certain product, e.g. by offering a discount.
20. (typography) An impression or matrix formed by a punch drift.
21. A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river.

• 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 cannot be separated without destroying the device. In these cases, the words “disk” and “drive” are used interchangeably.

• (self-motivation): ambition, enthusiasm, get-up-and-go, motivation, self-motivation, verve
• (sustained advance in the face of the enemy): attack, push
• (motor that does not take fuel): engine, mechanism, motor
• (trip made in a motor vehicle): ride, spin, trip
• (driveway): approach, driveway
• (public roadway): avenue, boulevard, road, street
• (psychology: desire, interest): desire, impetus, impulse, urge
• (computing: mass-storage device): disk drive
• (golf term):
• (baseball term): line drive
• (cricket term):

• (self-motivation): inertia, lack of motivation, laziness, phlegm, sloth

drive (third-person singular simple present drives, present participle driving, simple past drove or (archaic) drave, past participle driven or (dialectal) druv)

1. (transitive) To impel or urge onward by force; to push forward; to compel to move on.

   to drive sheep out of a field

   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act IV, Scene 7,

     One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;

     Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.

   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett (translator), Thucydides [History of the Peloponnesian War], Oxford: Clarendon, Volume I, Book 4, p. 247,

     […] Demosthenes desired them first to put in at Pylos and not to proceed on their voyage until they had done what he wanted. They objected, but it so happened that a storm came on and drove them into Pylos.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To direct a vehicle powered by a horse, ox or similar animal.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act II, Scene 6,

     There is a litter ready; lay him in’t

     And drive towards Dover, friend, where thou shalt meet

     Both welcome and protection.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:

     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.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   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.
   • 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.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     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.

   This constant complaining is going to drive me to insanity.   You are driving me crazy!

10. (intransitive, cricket, tennis, baseball) To hit the ball with a drive.
11. (intransitive) To travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle.

    I drive to work every day.

12. (transitive) To convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle.

    My wife drove me to the airport.

13. (intransitive) To move forcefully.
    • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Chapter 2,

      […] Unequal match’d,

      Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage strikes wide;

    • 1697, John Dryden (translator), The Aeneid, Book I, lines 146-148, in The Works of Virgil, Volume 2, London: J. Tonson, 1709, 3rd edition, pp. 306-307,

      Thus while the Pious Prince his Fate bewails,

      Fierce Boreas drove against his flying Sails.

      And rent the Sheets […]

    • 1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters” in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, p. 113,

      Time driveth onward fast,

      And in a little while our lips are dumb.

    • 1855, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co., Volume I, Chapter 1, p. 7,

      Charles, ill in body and mind, and glad to escape from his enemies under cover of the night and a driving tempest, was at length compelled to sign the treaty of Passau […]

    • 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC:

      The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny.

14. (intransitive) To be moved or propelled forcefully (especially of a ship).
    • c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Act III, Prologue,

      […] as a duck for life that dives,

      So up and down the poor ship drives:

    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 12,

      […] the Captain […] order’d the Cable to be cut, and let the Ship drive nearer the Land, where she soon beat to pieces:

15. (transitive) To urge, press, or bring to a point or state.
    • 1590, Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 2, Chapter 19, p. 186,

      He driuen to dismount, threatned, if I did not the like, to doo as much for my horse, as Fortune had done for his.

    • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act V, Scene 4,

      But darkness and the gloomy shade of death

      Environ you, till mischief and despair

      Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!

16. (transitive) To carry or to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute.
    • 1694, Jeremy Collier, Miscellanies in Five Essays, London: Sam. Keeble & Jo. Hindmarsh, “Of General Kindness,” p. 69,

      You know the Trade of Life can’t be driven without Partners; there is a reciprocal Dependance between the Greatest and the Least.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

17. (transitive) To clear, by forcing away what is contained.
    • 1697, John Dryden (translator), The Aeneid, Book I, lines 744-745, in The Works of Virgil, Volume 2, London: J. Tonson, 1709, 3rd edition, p. 328,

      We come not with design of wastful Prey,

      To drive the Country, force the Swains away:

18. (mining) To dig horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Tomlinson to this entry?)

19. (American football) To put together a drive (n.): to string together offensive plays and advance the ball down the field.
20. (obsolete) To distrain for rent.
21. (transitive) To separate the lighter (feathers or down) from the heavier, by exposing them to a current of air.
22. To be the dominant party in a sex act. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• (herd (animals) in a particular direction): herd
• (cause animals to flee out of):
• (move something by hitting it with great force): force, push
• (cause (a mechanism) to operate): move, operate
• (operate (a wheeled motorized vehicle)):
• (motivate, provide an incentive for): impel, incentivise/incentivize, motivate, push, urge
• (compel): compel, force, oblige, push, require
• (cause to become): make, send, render
• (travel by operating a wheeled motorized vehicle):
• (convey (a person, etc) in a wheeled motorized vehicle): take

• test-drive

• diver, rived, vired

From Old Norse drífa, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Compare Swedish driva, Icelandic drífa, English drive, Low German drieven, North Frisian driwe, Dutch drijven, German treiben.

• IPA^(key): /driːvə/, [d̥ʁiːwə]

drive c (singular definite driven, plural indefinite driver)

1. drift

drive (imperative driv, present driver, past drev, past participle drevet, dreven or drevne, present participle drivende)

1. drive
2. run
3. force
4. power
5. drift

From English drive.

drive c

1. drive (psychology: desire or interest, self-motivation)

drive n (singular definite drivet, plural indefinite drive)

1. drive (golf: stroke made with a driver)

• Homophones: drivent, drives

drive

1. first-person singular present indicative of driver
2. third-person singular present indicative of driver
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of driver
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of driver
5. second-person singular imperative of driver

From Old Norse drífa, from Proto-Germanic *drībaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Compare with Swedish driva, Icelandic drífa, English drive, Dutch drijven, German treiben.

drive (imperative driv, present tense driver, passive drives, simple past drev or dreiv, past participle drevet, present tense drivende)

1. to move; turn
2. to pursue
3. to deviate
4. to float; drift
5. to operate; run
6. to follow
7. to drive, propel

• “drive” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

drive (present tense driv, past tense dreiv, past participle drive, present participle drivande, imperative driv)

1. Alternative form of driva

• drivverdig
• fordrive

Borrowed from English drive.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈdɾajv/, /ˈdɾaj.vi/

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drive m (plural drives)

1. (computer hardware) drive (a mass-storage device)

drive (plural drives)

1. a drive
2. a forceful blow, a swipe

drive (third-person singular present drives, present participle drivin, past drave, past participle driven)

1. to drive